As someone from the UK (who now lives in the US) I look forward to the reversal of roles when US techies are forced to search out proxy connections that allow them to watch online content.<p>Welcome to the club.
Wow. I have to admit that I didn't expect to see anything like this from them for at least a couple more years.<p>We'll see how long it takes to bring it to the US though. I'd guess that their cable co ties are too strong here to do it anytime soon.
Despite all the naysaying, I have a feeling this could show up in the US sooner than expected.<p>HBO GO is very good, surprisingly so. The quality of that effort in combination with moves like this suggest some very smart, visionary folks are at work there.<p>Anecdotally, I'm seeing rapidly growing interest in cord-cutting among non-technical folks.<p>As tablets and 4G phones proliferate I see people in general becoming increasingly frustrated with cable and desirous of having content when and where they want it.
I imagine that their market penetration in Europe in so tiny that they can experiment with new models without pissing in too many people's Wheaties. Don't expect this in the US anytime soon.
Paying more per-show, but only paying for the shows you want to watch, will likely encourage higher quality shows.<p>When you have, to steal some words from Pink Floyd, "500 channels of shit on the T.V. to choose from." Then the next channel of crap will always capture marginally more money, and will be profitable if costs are low enough. So what you get is in-your face lowest common denominator crap designed to draw the attention of bored channel surfers.<p>On the other hand, if shows need to generate buzz around the water cooler, such that people are proud to have discovered the show and announce to the world they're paying for it, the focus needs to be on quality.
I love ArsTechnica too, but I think the link traffic should've gone to Variety mag:<p><a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118058484" rel="nofollow">http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118058484</a>
Well, this looks like something that I'd be willing to pay for once it comes to the US. Not holding my breath, but it's definitely a good sign that it's coming to other markets.
While it appears there are not that many sports fans here it is worth noting that for sport this is already happening.<p>The NBA and others have started online subscriptions for their content. For people in places like Australia where cable subscriptions with good sport cost $100 / month it's well worth it.<p>Setanta, an Irish concern, has a streaming service that allows you to pay $17 a month or $100 a year for live sport much of which is soccer. I watch the Bundesliga using this service and it is excellent.<p>It's a shame that you can't get Ligue 1, Serie A, La Liga and the EPL this way. Yet.
Love it. I cancelled my Directv subscription last month for Hulu + Netflix. Haven't looked back. I'd like to see ShowTime go in this direction for US customers.
I wonder when more services like this will be released in northern Europe. The legal systems are more or less identical on copyright and intellectual property, which should make it a lot easier? Combined, scandinavia covers around 20 million people and have one of the worlds highest purchasing power.
Nice one, giving it to the nordic countries first means that they can reduce the number of high-bandwidth seeders for their content on Bittorrent. At the same time profit from it.
i will cancel my TWC cable subscription in a millisecond once I can get NFL and HBO streamed to my house via my TWC internet connection. cable is so 1950s.