The HBO Go app recently launched on the PlayStation 4, but users soon discovered that Comcast was continuing to block the use of the app to its subscribers. While every other major Internet service provider approves HBO Go on their backend, Comcast is a hold out and won’t verify that users are approved to use HBO Go's services.
Tech Dirt confirms the PlayStation 4 is not the first piece of hardware Comcast has blocked from using HBO Go. In contrast to every other ISP, Comcast continues to block the use of HBO Go on the PlayStation 3 and only recently allowed Roku users to use the app after Roku filed a complaint with the FCC for discriminating against content that competed with their own.
Comcast's refusal to support HBO Go users on PlayStation 4 comes in the wake of the recent decision of the FCC to reinstate Net Neutrality. HBO will be releasing a standalone HBO app in 2015 that will not need to check in with ISPs to function. In doing so, it will bypass Comcast's ability to block its content.
[Source: Tech Dirt via Kotaku]
Our Take
Comcast seems to be betraying Net Neutrality with practices such as this. Hopefully outcry from consumers and HBO itself will help reverse the anti-consumer practice sooner rather than later.