Some fans of HBO series like Girls, Game of Thrones, and Boardwalk Empire have been watching those shows on mobile devices via the HBO Go app by obtaining the password from relatives, friends, and Facebook and Twitter friends, The New York Times observed today (Friday). They are taking advantage of HBO's account-sharing feature that allows each HBO subscriber three HBO Go accounts that are intended for use by family members. The Time Warner-owned cable network so far is making no effort to crack down on the practice of obtaining accounts from friends, the Times observed, "partly because it doesn't know how widespread it is." But HBO co-president Eric Kessler recently estimated that HBO Go accounts for about 4 percent of the audience for Girls and only 1 percent for other HBO programs.

01/06/2012