Bill Maher, where are you?

November 16, 2017 8:11 AM

I get HBO streamed via Amazon Prime. Any idea why the Real Time with Bill Maher, which airs Friday nights, isn't available till at least Monday or Tuesday? Other shows (John Oliver) are usually available within hours of broadcast.

Do other streaming services (HBO-Go) offer more immediate availability?

posted by sixpack to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

HBO's help page says that Maher is typically ready on HBO GO at 0700 Eastern Saturday morning.

FYI, but also related to this issue: HBO will be off Amazon Channels in May 2018.

This article mentions that the HBO never intended the Amazon Channels subscription to be a substitute for a cable/satellite/HBO Now subscription, which seems pretty shitty considering Amazon wants $15 for the channel.

But, anyway, by this logic it looks like HBO was putting an artificial delay in the Maher stream for this very reason. I could totally missing something about HBO Now, but perhaps that's the alternative you should seek.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:08 AM on November 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

On further read, I might be confusing Amazon Prime HBO with Amazon Channels HBO. My apologies if there's a difference here.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:13 AM on November 16, 2017

Response by poster: I don't think there's any difference between Amazon Prime & Channels.

I thought they might be doing it to force subscribers to leave Amazon, but I haven't noticed any other shows with such a long delay. I'll probably switch... wondering if PS VUE is another option.
posted by sixpack at 12:14 PM on November 16, 2017

Response by poster: Well, this week the show aired the next day. Is HBO reading AskMeFi?
posted by sixpack at 10:45 AM on November 20, 2017