I think they can afford to be slightly ballsier than they're being. But not by much. And that matter of degrees is what makes the situation with "rocking the cable providers' boats" so fraught. Fact is, HBO is not in a power position against its cable providers. HBO doesn't drive cable subscriptions en masse the way sports packages do. HBO still -- for the time being, at least -- needs Comcast, Time Warner, et al., a lot more than they need HBO.
That said, I don't think there is a major cable provider out there right now who'd dare drop HBO from all of its offerings if push came to shove. And I think HBO is, in many ways, the perfect content brand for on-demand subscriptions or a la carte episode sales on digital ecosystems. Its content is top-notch, and the potential audience for that content is theoretically a large multiple of the current HBO subscriber base. The quality of a typical HBO scripted series is lightyears beyond that of almost any other network show, and consumers would eat it up.
I agree with you that HBO seems well-positioned for either world right now: the world in which it currently lives, or the world in which it could find itself a few years from now. HBO GO is a great app with what I imagine is a large install base. It seems relatively future-ready, if not wholly future-proof.
That said, I don't think there is a major cable provider out there right now who'd dare drop HBO from all of its offerings if push came to shove. And I think HBO is, in many ways, the perfect content brand for on-demand subscriptions or a la carte episode sales on digital ecosystems. Its content is top-notch, and the potential audience for that content is theoretically a large multiple of the current HBO subscriber base. The quality of a typical HBO scripted series is lightyears beyond that of almost any other network show, and consumers would eat it up.
I agree with you that HBO seems well-positioned for either world right now: the world in which it currently lives, or the world in which it could find itself a few years from now. HBO GO is a great app with what I imagine is a large install base. It seems relatively future-ready, if not wholly future-proof.