The key is "paying" customers, but the other key is "free with purchase." That is, if you already pay for, say, CNN or HBO, then Bewkes says you'd be able to get it on your PC, and maybe on your phone, for no additional cost. If you are among the 15% of Americans who don't pay for TV, you'd presumably be able to grab a web-only option.

Bewkes presents this as a program he is cooking up with Comcast and his ex-ward, Time Warner Cable, but what this move does is turn content owners into content providers. The cable companies—and the wired and wireless phone data service providers—become dumb pipelines, whether they're signed on or not.

Boy do they love that. (Their industry expression is "over the top," meaning that content piggybacks on the connection rather than being part and parcel of the connection itself.) Saul at the Times, who was citing an Advertising Age article, makes a point of saying that Bewkes can only do this now that TWC isn't under his protection.

It's a good plan, if it means I can just buy a damn HBO subscription when the shows are good (as in, better than Eastbound and Down), have Nick and PBS on demand for the kid, and can do away with 90% of the cable crap that I have to wade through now. But just visualizing the convenience makes me realize the industry will never really let it happen. [NYT]

As the Hacking Netflix blog notes, some customers are already used to additional monthly fees, as there are currently more than 700,000 customers paying an extra $1 per month for Blu-Ray titles. Still, the difference between $1/month and $10/month could be a substantial hit, especially in this economy.

But how about the rest of you? Are Big Love, Entourage and reruns of the Sopranos worth the extra monthly fee? Is this too much like a cable bill for your liking? Spill it in the comments. [Hacking NetFlix]

Hermaphrodites with your sexy lady bits and your sexy men bits can rejoice too. [Thanks, Steve]

HBO & Apple Bring Critically Acclaimed Television Programming to the iTunes Store

Favorites Including "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" Now Available on iTunes

NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, California—May 13, 2008—HBO and Apple® today announced that programming from HBO is now available for purchase and download on the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com). New HBO programs on iTunes include the Emmy Award-winning programs "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Deadwood" and "Rome," as well as the critically acclaimed hits "Flight of the Conchords" and "The Wire." The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online TV store with over 150 million episodes sold and features the world's largest catalog with over 800 shows (over 20,000 episodes).

"We're very excited to make these legendary HBO programs available on the iTunes Store," said Henry McGee, president of HBO Video. "Whether catching up on 'Sex and the City' in anticipation of its upcoming movie release or reliving a favorite 'Sopranos' episode, we think viewers will love being able to watch these shows on their iPod or iPhone."

"We're thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "These are some of the most talked about television shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers."

"Sex and the City: The Movie" premieres in theaters on May 30, and in preparation for the movie's debut, fans can choose any or all 94 episodes from the entire six seasons of the program.

Television shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac® or PC, iPod® nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone™ or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV®. "Sex and the City," "The Wire" and "Flight of the Conchords" are $1.99 per episode, and "The Sopranos," "Deadwood" and "Rome" are priced at $2.99 per episode. iTunes customers can also choose to purchase entire seasons of their favorite programs.

Pricing & Availability
iTunes 7.6.2 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from (www.itunes.com). Purchase and download of songs and videos from the iTunes Store requires a valid credit card from a financial institution in the country of purchase. Television shows are available in the US, UK, Canada and Germany, and video availability varies by country.

Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour pay television services - HBO and Cinemax - to over 40 million U.S. subscribers. The services offer the most popular subscription video on demand products, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand, as well as HBO on Broadband, HD feeds, and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO's branded television networks, along with the subscription video on demand products HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile, bring HBO services to over 50 countries. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

What's impressive is how HBO got Apple to negotiate beyond its usual terms. If you remember, the fixed $1.99 episode price and profit splitting are what led to the Apple/NBC divorce in the fall. Now, Apple has backed down from its stance and appears to be into the flexible pricing scheme. Portfolio believes Apple wants this partnership to drive Apple TV sales. I also wonder if NBC on the Zune Marketplace shook 'em up a little.

And if HBO does come to iTunes, it will be their first mainstream venture into the online media market. They've been hesitant up until now, presumably because it might cannibalize subscription revenue. While they are testing an online on-demand system with a planned national rollout, it's currently only available in Wisconsin, and requires a subscription to HBO through cable providers.

While no specifics have been declared, Portfolio hints that it could simply be older/cancelled shows, such as Deadwood and The Larry Sanders Show. This would make sense, because watching new shows would still require a subscription, and HBO doesn't show many replays of shows no longer in production. In any case, Portfolio says this will likely play out in the next two weeks, with a simultaneous announcement/availability of content. Let's keep our fingers crossed. [Portfolio via iPodNN]

But then we've got the DRM/studio content restrictions: No transfer to portable devices or burning, and content automatically withers off of your computer when it hits the expiration date in 4-12 weeks. Better than the iTunes timeframe nonetheless. And that whole Roadrunner requirement, it's totally literal, as in you can only pick up new content while connected to Roadrunner.

On the upside, you can register up to five computers per household, and you've got features like series passes that auto-download within five minutes of a show airing on TV. Since the file size runs about 1.2GB for a two-hour flick, the res is probably pretty close to what iTunes offers. Besides, it's free, and you can't beat that. [DVD Dossier via Engadget]

We're digging these new specifically-produced programs for various media other than plain old TV. Apparently HBO is serious when it blurts out that slogan ad nauseum, "It's not TV, it's HBO." However, we're just wishing they would've picked a different character from the Entourage series rather than Johnny Drama. That's OK, though, HBO—we still love you. Now hug it out, bitch. – Charlie White

Cingular launches mini HBO series for cellphones [Reuters]

Come on HBO, don't be such a downer. We pay for your services, we love your programming, if we want to record an episode of The Sopranos, please don't take that away. You make some good money on us, so don't get so greedy.

HBO wants its programming to be off-limits for DVRs

HBO wants to bring the Sopranos to your iPod [Apple Insider]

Chalk one up for Cingular Wireless, which today announced a multi-year exclusive deal with HBO to get clips of favorite TV shows, including The Sopranos, sent to mobile phones. The cellphone company, which is getting ready to ratchet up a high-speed wireless network from 16 markets to 100 by next year, believes this will encourage cell phone users to purchase its service plans rather than Sprint's. The one problem I see is the word "clips." I don't particularly want clips. I want a whole show. Start-to-finish. Whether or not this is just a tease for things to come, I don't know. Assuming we get true 3G high-speed mobile service soon, I would have to guess things will only get better.

HBO aims Sopranos clips at Cingular phones-analyst [Reuters]

Ok, I've dealt with Europe and Asia getting the cool phones first. But come on: They get HBO on demand from 3G too? That's OUR channel! Looks like Vodaphone is announcing a global Mobile TV service, which will offer series like Sex and the City, Six Feet Under or Curb Your Enthusiasm on its Vodafone Live! service. Bastards. And to rub it in, they'll also get Eurosport, Twentieth Century Fox Television, The UEFA Champions League, Discovery, MTV, Chilli TV and Fashion TV in countries like New Zealand or UK. All this will work on any 3G-enabled phone in eight of Vodafone's operating countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and the UK; three associate networks—Belgium, France and Switzerland; and one partner network, Austria. All we get are crappy ringtone downloads—MIDI Gold Digger!—and a kick in the ass.

Watch HBO in Europe on Vodafone global Mobile TV [i4u]

Cingular in talks with HBO for video content [MobileTracker]