HBO: To Pay or Not to Pay?
By Jonathan Berohn
I’ve been an HBO convert ever since my family first got cable back when I was in high school. You know how some people are Ford people and others are GM people? Well, I’ve always been an HBO guy. I’ve never paid for any other channel except as part of a package that had HBO, and I’ve always had HBO as part of my cable line-up. Now, though, I’m starting to waver.
Pros
HBO certainly still has an upside. It has some great original programming. I like “The Wire” (HBO’s highly acclaimed police drama) quite a bit, and I also watch “The Sopranos” (their award-winning mob show) and “Six Feet Under” (a quirky show about a family who own a funeral home). And now that On Demand has come along you can watch any of HBO’s offerings for the month whenever you want. The problem comes up when you take a closer look at those offerings.
Cons
I used to watch HBO for its movies and boxing. The boxing part is the biggest drop off. I can’t remember the last time they had a fight that was a “can’t miss” event. The movies are even more problematic. By the time HBO gets a movie I want to see, it’s been available at Blockbuster for months. And then there’s the repetition. HBO shows new episodes of their series on Sundays, and then repeats them throughout the week. Somehow I don’t feel I’m getting my money’s worth on repeat nights.
The Final Straw
I could still stomach all this knowing I was at least getting the series I (or my wife) wanted to watch. First, though, “Sex and the City” went off the air, and HBO lost my wife. Now I hear that “The Sopranos” won’t be back until Spring 2006. That’s too long of a drought for me. I’ll take my $15 a month and either buy 4 pay-per-view movies or an extra DVD each month. With HBO releasing all of its series on DVD, I can always catch up later if I really miss something. And it will cost me a lot less.
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