# HBOGO activation on xFinity?



## nrnoble (Aug 25, 2004)

Unless I am overlooking something, the xFinity does not allow the activation of the HBOGO app for Tivo. When I attempt to activate the HBOGO app, xFinity does not appear on the list of cable providers that will activate the HBOGO app.

I am looking for insight\education on why the HBOGO app can be activated on Roku, iPad, and home Computers, but not on my Tivo Bolt.

Thanks


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## giomania (Aug 25, 2017)

Yeah, that is annoying. HBOGo is for customers without cable/satellite video subscriptions, while HBONow is for customers with cable/satellite video subscriptions.

Does that help?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

giomania said:


> HBOGo is for customers without cable/satellite video subscriptions, while HBONow is for customers with cable/satellite video subscriptions.


I think you have that backwards.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

nrnoble said:


> I am looking for insight\education on why the HBOGO app can be activated on Roku, iPad, and home Computers, but not on my Tivo Bolt.


Unfortunately, the necessary deals are not in place to allow the use of HBO Go to Comcast users on a TiVo. It's similar to how Comcast users used to not be able to watch Showtime Anytime on an Apple TV.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

nrnoble said:


> Unless I am overlooking something, the xFinity does not allow the activation of the HBOGO app for Tivo. When I attempt to activate the HBOGO app, xFinity does not appear on the list of cable providers that will activate the HBOGO app.
> 
> I am looking for insight\education on why the HBOGO app can be activated on Roku, iPad, and home Computers, but not on my Tivo Bolt.
> 
> Thanks


Because Comcast hasn't arranged with HBO to allow it. 

You can get to the same content on Comcast with their OnDemand app through your TiVo which is why I'm sure they haven't enabled it since they would prefer you go through that route. Note that you don't have to use the app for finding the shows if you have an idea of what you are searching for. Just search using the TiVo's search and play from there selecting XFINITY XOD under Watch Now (Kong:Skull Island for example).

Scott


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

gweempose said:


> I think you have that backwards.


They *definitely* have it backwards.

HBOgo == for cable/satellite subscribers
HBO NOW == standalone OTT service


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## Sgt Howl (Jan 18, 2013)

Bit-starved garbage from Comcast cable/on-demand. I wonder if the HBO Go/Now streaming is higher quality.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Sgt Howl said:


> Bit-starved garbage from Comcast cable/on-demand. I wonder if the HBO Go/Now streaming is higher quality.


It is.


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## nrnoble (Aug 25, 2004)

Thanks for responses.



HerronScott said:


> Because Comcast hasn't arranged with HBO to allow it.
> 
> You can get to the same content on Comcast with their OnDemand app through your TiVo which is why I'm sure they haven't enabled it since they would prefer you go through that route. Note that you don't have to use the app for finding the shows if you have an idea of what you are searching for. Just search using the TiVo's search and play from there selecting XFINITY XOD under Watch Now (Kong:Skull Island for example).
> 
> Scott


Thanks, I do have access to xFinity on demand through my Tivo. When i go to access HBO on demand content using the xFinity app (just a text menu of on demand programming), and the HBO programming offered significantly limited compared to HBOGO. As just one example, xFinity on demand only offers Season three of Sex and the City, while HBOGO offers the entire series. Same can be said about other HBO series and HBO documentaries.

For me its only a minor issue, I have a Roku device connected to the same TV using the same xFinity internet service, and have access to HBOGO. Just have to use two remotes and switch TV inputs.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

nrnoble said:


> Thanks, I do have access to xFinity on demand through my Tivo. When i go to access HBO on demand content using the xFinity app (just a text menu of on demand programming), and the HBO programming offered significantly limited compared to HBOGO. As just one example, xFinity on demand only offers Season three of Sex and the City, while HBOGO offers the entire series. Same can be said about other HBO series and HBO documentaries.


So I see! Obviously what I've looked for has been more limited (as well as others that have reported on this).

Will have to complain to Comcast on this (HBO On Demand not providing access to all)!

Scott


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

nrnoble said:


> Thanks for responses.
> 
> Thanks, I do have access to xFinity on demand through my Tivo. When i go to access HBO on demand content using the xFinity app (just a text menu of on demand programming), and the HBO programming offered significantly limited compared to HBOGO. As just one example, xFinity on demand only offers Season three of Sex and the City, while HBOGO offers the entire series. Same can be said about other HBO series and HBO documentaries.
> 
> For me its only a minor issue, I have a Roku device connected to the same TV using the same xFinity internet service, and have access to HBOGO. Just have to use two remotes and switch TV inputs.


Interestingly, the same is true with Fios on demand with Sex and the City. I thought the Fios catalogue was more complete last year. I don't look at it much. I prefer using HBOGo.


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## humbb (Jan 27, 2014)

HerronScott said:


> So I see! Obviously what I've looked for has been more limited (as well as others that have reported on this).
> 
> Will have to complain to Comcast on this (HBO On Demand not providing access to all)!
> 
> Scott


And yet the Xfinity Stream app on my tablet provides access to all (six???) seasons of Sex in the City. Go figure.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

humbb said:


> And yet the Xfinity Stream app on my tablet provides access to all (six???) seasons of Sex in the City. Go figure.


The parallels continue. Same is true for Fios app.

Maybe licensing? Maybe the tablet apps are redirecting to hbo app? Odd they would be the same.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> So I see! Obviously what I've looked for has been more limited (as well as others that have reported on this).
> 
> Will have to complain to Comcast on this (HBO On Demand not providing access to all)!
> 
> Scott


You're more than likely to get a response that authenticating with HBO and Tivo is too difficult. That was their go to excuse a few years ago. The more likely excuse is that Tivo hasn't paid Comcast enough money. There's really no other reason it took nearly 10 years for Comcast to allow HBO on Roku and the PlayStation 3 and 4 when other providers had it working from day 1.


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## alexb (Jan 4, 2003)

This is about Comcast protecting their turf, nothing more. It sucks. They seem to be in a quiet war with Microsoft too.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

morac said:


> You're more than likely to get a response that authenticating with HBO and Tivo is too difficult. That was their go to excuse a few years ago. The more likely excuse is that Tivo hasn't paid Comcast enough money. There's really no other reason it took nearly 10 years for Comcast to allow HBO on Roku and the PlayStation 3 and 4 when other providers had it working from day 1


I wasn't going to complain to Comcast about not authenticating. I was going to complain about their XOD not providing all the content of HBO OnDemand (as I mentioned).

Scott


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> I wasn't going to complain to Comcast about not authenticating. I was going to complain about their XOD not providing all the content of HBO OnDemand (as I mentioned).
> 
> Scott


No, my point was Comcast will come up with a bogus excuse as to why they haven't added this, such as it being TiVo's or HBO's fault when it's almost certainly because neither want to pay Comcast for the privilege.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> I wasn't going to complain to Comcast about not authenticating. I was going to complain about their XOD not providing all the content of HBO OnDemand (as I mentioned).


Agreed. It's one thing for Comcast to block access to HBO GO, generally, but it's another if they're not providing content parity via their own On Demand offering.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

alexb said:


> This is about Comcast protecting their turf, nothing more. It sucks. They seem to be in a quiet war with Microsoft too.


How? They aren't blocking TiVo from HBO either linearly or on demand. Nor do they block HBOGo on other devices. If they are protecting their turf they are doing a bad job of it.


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

Unless you're getting a dynamite deal on HBO price wise, you may be better enough just getting freestanding HBO Now for your streaming devices, lots of material on demand within it.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> How? They aren't blocking TiVo from HBO either linearly or on demand.


Isn't that the point? I'm a TiVo user and Comcast is blocking me from accessing the full HBO library available via HBO GO, instead allowing access to just a subset of the content via the Xfinity On Demand for TiVo app.

With 8+ TVs, I shouldn't have to buy a Roku for each set simply because Comcast's On Demand content is deficient, or Comcast refuses to allow HBO GO authentication.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> Isn't that the point? I'm a TiVo user and Comcast is blocking me from accessing the full HBO library available via HBO GO, instead allowing access to just a subset of the content via the Xfinity On Demand for TiVo app.
> 
> With 8+ TVs, I shouldn't have to buy a Roku for each set simply because Comcast's On Demand content is deficient, or Comcast refuses to allow HBO GO authentication.


Somehow, I don't think not having all the seasons of old shows like Sex and the City is that big a weapon. Nor do I think they are really concerned about the outlier TiVo users nor people who have 8 TVs.

It is a very odd method of locking customers into their boxes if that is what it is. Not with so many loopholes.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

I’m not arguing that it’s part of some grand strategy, I’m just stating that my TiVo boxes *are* blocked from content available via HBO GO, as a point of fact, contrary to the prior framing.


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## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

That's weird, I've always seen full series content with HBO and XOD. I wonder if the Sex and the City deal is a Comcast bug of some sort.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

slowbiscuit said:


> That's weird, I've always seen full series content with HBO and XOD.


Me, too, which why I agreed with Scott's initial response.



slowbiscuit said:


> I wonder if the Sex and the City deal is a Comcast bug of some sort.


I was wondering this, as well, but had assumed it was a wider issue owing to the earlier framing:


nrnoble said:


> When i go to access HBO on demand content using the xFinity app (just a text menu of on demand programming), and the HBO programming offered significantly limited compared to HBOGO. *As just one example*, xFinity on demand only offers Season three of Sex and the City, while HBOGO offers the entire series. *Same can be said about other HBO series and HBO documentaries.*



So, after reading your post I decided to do a comparison between HBO GO (on my phone) and the listings available through the XOD4TiVo app. What I found was that *the issue is almost strictly limited to 'SatC' *from a series standpoint. Only Season 3 is available, but even that season has numerous episodes missing.

As for other series, I couldn't find the following "HBO GO" shows in the XOD4TiVo listings:

The Casual Vacancy S1
Crashing S1*
Luck S1
Todd McFarlane's Spawn S1-3​
... however, they were all accessible via TiVo's search results, playable for free (with subscription) via the XOD4TiVo app. I just couldn't find them by browsing the XOD4TiVo listings.

* I ended-up finding the free S1 'Crashing' episodes listed within the generic TV Shows listings, outside the Premium Channels listings.​
There were a few international series I couldn't find (e.g. Grace, Sent), and I didn't check documentaries or movies, beyond a couple data points. Re: movies, here's a couple issues quickly identified:

HBO's new 'Fahrenheit 451,' which premiered last night, is already available via HBO GO, but not via XOD4TiVo. (Nor is XOD listed as a TiVo search result for the title.)
'Dunkirk' is freely playable (w/ HBO sub) via XOD4TiVo, but TiVo's search only lists XOD as a $11 rental option - only to find it actually links to a $22 "Buy & Watch Now" listing!!



TonyD79 said:


> Somehow, I don't think not having all the seasons of old shows like Sex and the City is that big a weapon.


"First they came for 'Sex and the City,' but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda."


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

slowbiscuit said:


> That's weird, I've always seen full series content with HBO and XOD. I wonder if the Sex and the City deal is a Comcast bug of some sort.


I have the same missing episodes with fios, so not a Comcast bug.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> I'm not arguing that it's part of some grand strategy, I'm just stating that my TiVo boxes *are* blocked from content available via HBO GO, as a point of fact, contrary to the prior framing.


Who said you weren't. On TiVo?


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## alexb (Jan 4, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> How? They aren't blocking TiVo from HBO either linearly or on demand. Nor do they block HBOGo on other devices. If they are protecting their turf they are doing a bad job of it.


1) making sure their device is the primary device whenever possible 
2) avoiding scenarios that make it easy to cordcut HBO (though hbo is now outflanking Comcast imo)
3) yes they do block it on other devices, just not all devices
4) putative incidental damage to tivo whom they have active law suits with / lever to negotiate with

This is corporate mind games.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I find Xfinity content is inconsistent for HBO. Try digging in through the menus and sometimes you'll find content that is not avaiable or seems to have a fee though an OP. Not a hydra or Rovi thing, my guess is it's a Xfinity thing...


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

jrtroo said:


> I find Xfinity content is inconsistent for HBO. Try digging in through the menus and sometimes you'll find content that is not avaiable or seems to have a fee though an OP. Not a hydra or Rovi thing, my guess is it's a Xfinity thing...


The added layer of TiVo's OnePass interpretation of the available Xfinity On Demand content doesn't help.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

alexb said:


> 1) making sure their device is the primary device whenever possible
> 2) avoiding scenarios that make it easy to cordcut HBO (though hbo is now outflanking Comcast imo)
> 3) yes they do block it on other devices, just not all devices
> 4) putative incidental damage to tivo whom they have active law suits with / lever to negotiate with
> ...


Meanwhile, they are offering full streaming on a roku. You know, a device that is not theirs and has HBO streaming.

As I said, if this is their plan, they are horrible at execution.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> Meanwhile, they are offering full streaming on a roku. You know, a device that is not theirs and has HBO streaming.
> 
> As I said, if this is their plan, they are horrible at execution.


We don't know how much money Roku had to pay for that privilege.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

morac said:


> We don't know how much money Roku had to pay for that privilege.


And that would make sense. It's not about forcing you into their box but individual financial decisions.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

You need a tuner to use on demand. I know because I get the no tuner available message on my mini often when trying to watch on demand. 

In this situation HBO GO would be nice. I use HBO GO on my Roku when this happens. 

So Comcast is gaining nothing by blocking it.


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## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

schatham said:


> You need a tuner to use on demand. I know because I get the no tuner available message on my mini often when trying to watch on demand.
> 
> In this situation HBO GO would be nice. I use HBO GO on my Roku when this happens.
> 
> So Comcast is gaining nothing by blocking it.


I assume that you are referring to a situation where all of the tuners on the host are already in use.

Otherwise, it is a simple matter of selecting Live TV on the Mini to grab a tuner, following which you can then successfully launch XoD on the Mini.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> I have the same missing episodes with fios, so not a Comcast bug.


Is that with FIOS On Demand through a STB or FIOS HBOGo through your TiVo (missing Sex and the City seasons/episodes)?

Scott


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

chiguy50 said:


> I assume that you are referring to a situation where all of the tuners on the host are already in use.
> 
> Otherwise, it is a simple matter of selecting Live TV on the Mini to grab a tuner, following which you can then successfully launch XoD on the Mini.


Yes all tuners in use and not wanting to stop recordings.


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## swhastings (Oct 1, 2011)

https://www.multichannel.com/news/comcast-drops-xfinity-on-demand-app-for-tivo


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

swhastings said:


> https://www.multichannel.com/news/comcast-drops-xfinity-on-demand-app-for-tivo


Did you just wake up from a 4 month nap? The article date is May 24th and On Demand has been gone for 3 months.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

schatham said:


> Did you just wake up from a 4 month nap? The article date is May 24th and On Demand has been gone for 3 months.


And the article doesn't address the topic of the thread, activation of HBOGO on the TiVo platform.

That said, it did bring the thread back to the top of my "watched" list, allowing me to post a link to another thread providing an update ... on how to now get HBOGO activated on TiVo boxes.

See >here<.


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