Not to be mean or nasty but I’m kind of wondering why this is a big deal. The same thing has already been happening on the FreeForm channel, formerly known as the Family Channel, for a while now. And yes, I know it’s owned by Disney as well, but the only bonus here seems to be that streaming it on HBO means no commercials, I would hope, and the inclusion of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. After all, Freeform has yet to accomplish that one. So really it seems like people will be getting the same thing with just a little more incentive to watch.
Coming from a person who has had to go to sleep by Harry Potter more than one night thanks to the fact that it can be used to drown out natural house noises, the series is on nearly all the time when it comes to Freeform. The fact of not having HBO might actually mean that some people that watch Freeform could possibly see something else on the channel that could be interesting. It’s not a bad thing that Harry Potter’s been on so often, it’s simply that the announcement of having it shift to HBO for a while is not that big of a deal. Granted, it frees up one channel and takes over another one for a little bit but all in all it seems like a lot of hype that is meant to do little more than create a buzz that hasn’t been effective for a long time.
Honestly, there are only a few shows that have really kept HBO relevant throughout the years. Its movie scene has not been doing it any favors and in terms of subscriptions the most effective I’ve seen it is when it’s offered in a cable package for an extra cost. Many times it falls under a promotional deal that people still have to think about before saying yea or nay. HBO isn’t what it used to be when it was primarily a movie channel, back in the days when having it was something special and meant that you could count on people coming over to your home to watch movies all night or all weekend.
As a kid I can remember people puffing out their chests and smiling widely when they said that THEY had H-B-O. I mean come on, that was just the thing to have back then because it was like having a theater in your living room with all the movie options the station had. They didn’t edit anything for TV, they didn’t show anything that wasn’t hot at that time, and they didn’t break off for about five to ten minutes of commercials again and again. Back then HBO was something that you used to make people envy you because you could pay for the service and others couldn’t. Now it’s kind of a commonplace thing, even if the shows are amazing.
Harry Potter coming to HBO is great and all, but the hype isn’t really needed. People will watch.
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