XfinityTV Website

[Plummit]

Do you need your pc turned on to use PLay ON or does it just use the Roku?

[jhusosky]

PlayOn is a media server software so it is required to be running to stream any content to the Roku. For people new to Roku this is also an alterative for streaming YouTube to your Roku. I also use it to view regular Hulu for free since the Roku only has access to Hulu Prime.

Anything you can do with PlayOn and Roku can be done with a PC/Laptop hooked up to your TV but the second option is not very user friendly for my wife, pre-school child or my parents and inlaws so for us it works well. 

[KevBrie08]

I know that Comcast does not support HBOgo on smart TVs and I am wondering why not? Your top competitors do. I just upgraded TVs to a Samsung smart TV and signed up for HBO to have access to 3D movies and to learn that my service provider does not support downloading the HBOgo app is frustrating since I am paying for it. It would be great customer service for Comcast to consider this option.

[baggins415]

where does it say comcast in that article link you sent?  

[vincent228]

So thats it ?!  Play on also costs to have. so you will pay another $5 a month to watch HBOGO ?

So comcast gets away with still giving nothing except for popping it up the ol wazoo of the customers ?

Maybe comcast should be voted president.

then all they would have to do is keep quiet and give nothing and we would all believe the economy was fixed.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[jhusosky]

PlayOn had a Thanksgiving sale this year and I picked up the Life time $30 more then the annual fee. 

I still want to be able to use my HBOGO app on my roku since I can only view via PlayOn at home and not at work when I am here on weekends doing system maintenance or while traveling.

[tech-1984]

I'm with vincent228.  There is no excuse for Comcast not letting us stream HBOGO on our Roku devices, it just stinks.  And like any steaming heap not picked, this pile of corporate profiteering continues to reek. 

[vincent228]

I appreciate that. Itjust seemed like everything died off, as soon as someone came up with another way to do this. There is absolutely no reason for comcast to make us have to do that with PLAY-ON (which, btw, is horrible on my tv. I guess my pc isnt up to the task. So thus, another cost). Iwas like someone on this forum said "LOOK OVER THERE !", and everyone went ooooooh. Look at the pretty rainbow. The point of these posts were "this is not right". Then it changed to, "how can we make it right ourselves by circumventing comcast?". It went from insisting to settling.

[rlynch1]

Truth be told, I think activity died off because people have realized Comcast could care less about what we think or want.  This thread has expressed the desire of the community quite well enough, with hardly a response from Comcast, other than canned replies.  So, our attempts for clarity, or satisfaction, have merely fallen on deaf, uncaring corporate ears.  Once I am no longer part of Comcasts captive audience, (my suburb has no other available internet/cable carriers), and I do believe technology will shortly provide another route, I will remember this, and other ill treatments, (unfair pricing and bundling, random price increases, poor customer service,etc....), and respond accordingly.

[agibson78]

I doubt the decision is because Comcast couldn't care less.  It is likely a revenue decision.

[JBPanic]

Just saw this article showing that Time Warner is soon to allow HBO Go via Roku and XBox.  

Come on Comcast!  Get with it!  I'm picking up the phone to AT&T Uverse!

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/17/time-warner-cable-confirms-hbo-go-streaming-is-now-available-on/

[tech-1984]

We have been round and round about the possible reasons why Comcast is not enabling this feature for us.  The truth is that we may never know for sure, but it isn't a revenue issue.  If anything, it is an ROI issue.  There is no doubt a greater return of investment in spending thousands/millions/whatever marketing dollars to convince new customers that Comcast cares, has good customer service, etc. than actually delivering on these promises.  Customers who have been with Comcast for a while know better.

And monopolies work, just ask Comcast.  Disatisfied customers with few other options are, well, still customers...

[barbara5066]

Please add Comcast to the Roku family of viewers.  We need you!

seeing all others who are on the Roku family list and will be thinking of

going elsewhere.  HBO to GO is everywhere why not Comcast?????

[ridgerunner48]

Agree.. would be real nice to have HBO go on Roku.  Most of the other providers have included Roku

[cbundy55]

Just got Comcast, it's the only cable game in town - had to give up Dish TV, it don't work at my new house.  I am so disappointed to find out that I can't get HBO GO on my Roku.  What's up with that?  I pay for HBO - what is Comcasts justification for not partnering with Roku?  This is crazy.  

Comcast, Xfinity, partner with Roku NOW!

[cbundy55]

Exactly!  What are their reasons for not partnering with Roku for HBO GO.  We're already paying for HBO - what's the deal?  And, although their customer service people are very nice, the whole system SUCKS!  

[jhusosky]

Because Comcast could not give a hoot about use or our preferences.

[tpoddy]

yes, I'm wondering the same thing-----can't use my Paid For HBO on my Roku, either. What's up with that?

[sam_net]

Customers can make it happen if they want to. Question is - are they willing?

If possible switch to other TV provider who provides HBO GO on Roku. It's likely this may continue with other services  in future if you are sticking with Comcast. Think of emerging SMART TVs with various services and so forth.

Don't ever subscribe to Streampix

[Dystopian]

THE TRUTH - Comcast belives allowing us to use HBOgo on these devices, regardless of it being tied to our cable service, will lead us to cord cutting. This is a fear based corporate decision and unfortunately it makes Comcast a less valuable service. Comcast fears innovation unless that innovation is controlled and directed by them alone. Because of their near monopoly, innovation occurs at a speed of their choosing NOT by market conditions. Why do you think we have been stuck with these terrible blue DVR guides for over a decade when TiVo had a beautiful guide back in 2000 ? After hindering and reversing DVR progress for 10 years they finally "decide" to innovate with the the new X1 guide. Good luck on ever getting HBO go, the only reason they allowed it on Xbox was due to criticism by netflix head Reed Hastings. Go ahead and switch to Verizon ,If it's not effecting their bottom line they really don't care.

[vincent228]

Post number 571 and I just received the most amusing email from xfinity ever. Xfinity sent an email stating they had made my payment experience easier. Well thank you very much xfinity for making it easier for me to pay you. But no thank you xfinity for making impossible for me to get what I already paid 4.

[blyea]

A friend of mine has Dish Network and they just gave hime a free Roku because of the viacom channels they lost.  He said they were really pushing HBO Go thjrough the Roku and gave him 3 months of HBO free.  May be time to switch.  I don't see Comcast listening to their customers.

[billbellville]

Just another dissatisfied Comcast customer.   This is absolutely unacceptable by Comcast but like many of the posters, because of the monopoly that the cable companies have, we have no recourse in the matter.  

[georghem]

I was all excited to go buy a Roku for HBO GO streaming, and discovered that it's crippled by Comcast. So I had a chat session with customer service rep Edith about it to confirm. At first she said yes, HBO GO would work fine with Roku. Then she reappeared after the requisite 2-3 minute absence and introduced Comcast's latest insulting, obfuscatory talking point for further disclarification:

Edith: I just confirmed that box 360 works with HBO go. Howevere, Roku is not yet fully supported . We are getting updates that the provider Comcast when trying to activate it on your end can't be find.

Edith: Unfortunately, I don't have an estimated time for completion of the support. Our technicians and engineers are working quickly to resolve the problem.

Edith: You can contact us at 800-9346489 next month to get an update on this.

So now it seems the official company line is that it's somehow a technical issue. So while nearly every other ISP in the universe has somehow found a workaround to this baffling Roku technical dilemna, hapless Comfinity remains unable. I guess they'd prefer to be seen as completely incompetent and technologically backwards, rather than greedy, inflexible, and largely indifferent to the demands of their customers. Sadly, as most of us on this forum already know, Comcast is all of those things.

I do feel bad for Edith, having to spout off lies like this on her company's behalf. Get with it, Comcast.

[rayladad]

lol... "hapless"   couldn't agree more...

[vincent228]

Its really a shame that they have finally run out of lies to give the public as to why they wont let it work. But at least it leaves them the only excuse left. "its because of the aliens in area 51 that caused global warming, the end of the world on 12-21-2012 ,reality shows and hbogo not working on roku boxes through comcast. because xfinity is the only power on earth that can stop them. All praise comcast!

[sbinsfo]

Man am I disappointed! Thought I could catch up on old episodes of shows I cant see on OnDemand but nook. IM CANCELLIMH HBO and astarz maybe cable too.

[schoonerz]

$48.00 - $96.00. That's how much I estimate HBO has lost from me so far, since I dropped HBO earlier this spring and slimmed down my cable package. This was almost solely brought on by the fact that I wasn't able to watch HBO through Roku. Now I watch it on Roku with a joint Uverse subscription, and I couldn't be happier with it. There's simply no evidence that Comcast is better off alienating Roku users, and any word from Comcast otherwise should tell you how divorced they are from the current consumer zeitgeist.

The bean counters at Comcast think they know better. They don't. I mean, good God, it's actually starting to look pathetic.

[vincent228]

Yup. No doubt there. It also proves one other major thing. The people that make decisions for comcast have been educated beyond their intelligence.

[bobncindyhoward]

Someone please explain to me why Time Warner cable customers are able to get HBO to go on ROKU and Comcast  customers are being blocked. There is something seriously wrong with this.

[jhusosky]

Actually TimeWarner Cable only started to allow HBOGO on ROKU in May. This only after the President of TimeWarner Communications asked publicly during a stock holders meeting why he could not get HBOGO on his ROKU. Since both TimeWarner Cable and HBO are companies under his control and it still took another 3 months for them to give the approval.

May be we can send a Roku to the president of NBC/Universal/Comcast so they can understand our frustration. 

[rwspears]

Its not gonna happen unless Comcast can back charge HBO for every roku device activated with HBO go. because thats lost box rental revenue to comcast. How ever i would only see comcast making that charge if they offered exactly the same content through there on-demand service. We all know HBO-Go is far superior to HBO-Ondemand....

[curly333]

COMCAST GET ON THE BUS!!

WE WANT TO WATCH HBO-GO THROUGH OUR ROKU PLAYER.  WE ARE GIVING IT UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST THEN WE'RE SWITCHING TO AT&T UVERSE.

[victoriaiii]

yep, we're going to switch the AT&T Universe as well. When I spoke to them on the phone back in January they said it would be resolved in the next few months. So much for that. They also said that comcast was going to release it's own roku-type device and my guess is that they want to put HBOGO on there so they can get more of the profit. It's really lame to keep everyone waiting.

[MaBaBah]

And we are at the end of July and NOTHING. I have allowed this company to give me lousy service for nearly twenty years and I still do nothing about it. Why haven't I hooked up Dish Network yet?

[DaveNovak1961]

Are you kidding?!?  No Roku+HBOGO+Comcast support?!?  Why am I surprised that Comcast is the exception here!  Come on Comcast, get with the program and start supporting HBOGO on Roku devices and smart TVs.

[MickRonson]

All kidding aside I think Comcast fears being replaced by Roku. And it is a viable option by the way. Just read this today:

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/television/roku-gets-major-investment-from-new-partners-sky-and-new...

Look out Comcast! Roku is gaining on you as we speak.

[JonnyWatcher]

Uggh. I just tried to install and see that it doesn't work. So I just downloaded PlayOn, got a lifetime membership, and am good to go.

Thank you Comcast for being completely useless. You failed to block me or anyone else that uses this solution, and all you did was make my life a bit harder, not to mention $50.

Obtuse defined.

[rwspears]

---

MickRonson wrote:

All kidding aside I think Comcast fears being replaced by Roku. And it is a viable option by the way. Just read this today:

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/television/roku-gets-major-investment-from-new-partners-sky-and-new...

Look out Comcast! Roku is gaining on you as we speak.

---

Hopefully this means I will be able to get Fox News without comcast. On a side note looks like google has scared comcast with there gigabit fibre offering. I just got my bandwidth doubled today. Now they need to increase the Monthly 250GB cap....

[rwspears]

Watch them say that they needed to implement there new data bandwidth policies before supporting the Roku Fully. Just a FYI in the Philly PA area data caps are suspended but expected to increase to 300GB.... They did increase my speeds 2 fold to 50Mbps download  and 10Mbps upload. paying around 50 bucks a month Internet only...

[stansongman]

When is xfinity going to support HBO Go?  I'm often away from home, and use a Roku device.  You are one of the only providers who do not support it.  As a customer, I'd like to have access to everything I'm paying for, regardless of where I am physically located at the moment.

[cterrel]

I've been a Comcast TV and Internet customer for many years as well as a subscriber to HBO.  I was curious about using a content streaming device such as a Roku XS to play the HBO content that I already subscribe to on other devices in my home.  Comcast is not listed as one of the providers on the HBO Go website that supports streaming through a Roku device.  I was wondering if there are any plans to change this in the near future -- seems a shame I can't fully utilize the content I'm paying for.

Thanks!

[arpgh]

I just bought a ROKU to stream HBO shows...No Comcast /Xfinity code!!! I'm so mad. 

[wsalopek]

I just bought a Roku so my wife and I would not have to go into my son's room to watch HBO GO on his xBox...I try\ied to activate my Roku on the HBO GO channel, only to find out that Comcast does not support HBO GO on the Roku, even though they do support it on my Android phone, PC, etc etc.

This is HUGELY dissapointing...like I said, THE major reason I bought the Roku was to watch HBO GO.

Comcast...what gives?  Why not Roku?  What is your reasoning?

Please put HBO GO on the Roku.

Thanks...

[Tignish]

come on comcast. how about you listen to your customers and let us access HBOgo on our ROKU boxes. you're charging us enough every month that you can unblock a service that isn't costing you anything because its already accessible on EVERY OTHER DEVICE!!!

[HouseSimpson]

Please grant access to ROKU. We already pay for the cable box, and you already grant access to our mobille devices. Alternative to including us, your customers in a dialoge on this issue could include we, as a group, choosing to have the dialogue with the various PSC, PUC and local licensing entities, as well as the FCC to treat this as an equal access issue. 

If someone from Comcast legal would care to engage this forum on a cogent and lucid level, it would go along way toward good customer relations.

[CougarTrace]

So, what's the deal, xfinity? I pay an unglodly amount for all my services including watching HBO. I can stream it on my computer, Why not my Roku when every other company allows it? Please, don't give anything about costs. I'm already paying a ton and a subscription to HBO. If it's about promoting Streampix, well you a metric ton of work to do to get that even one tenth of the service it needs to be.

Allow the streaming of HBO on Roku. Do it now.

I'm already contacting the FCC, but I can't believe a class action lawsuit hasn't been started on this. Maybe its time

[anita0817]

From what I've read, Comcast does not support the HBOGO app on any of the tv's or roku like boxes. I could be wrong, but I do remember reading that somewhere.

[WakkyWabbit]

When considering purchasing a ROKU device, I asked about HBOGo. ROKU customer reps informed me that if I had HBO via Comcast, all I would need to do is contact them to set it up. I did. Then I found out that ROKU did not support Comcast. When I contacted Comcast about the issue, which was several times and many minutes over the phone, I was told by Comcast they have no idea who ROKU is and that Comcast is not blocking them. Comcast reps, a total of three on separate calls, all told me the same thing. ROKU is not on their blocked list.

From everything I have been told by Comcast, this is a ROKU issue and not a Comcast blocking issue. I find it highly unlikely that three different Comcast employees would spend so much time with me over the phone with all three giving the same response if they were being dishonest.

If you, or someone else reading this, has direct info that it is Comcast blocking ROKU, I would appreciate them emailing it to me at xxxxxxxx@comcast.net. From everything I can gather, this is a ROKU issue and ROKU is the one stating that Comcast is blocking them. Comcast does not make any such statement that I can find.

[JonnyWatcher]

Hello,

I think you misunderstand the situation. Comcast internet is NOT blocking ROKU in any way. You can use your ROKU on your Comcast internet connection, to use Netflix, Amazon, or any other number of apps, without any issue.

The problem is that the HBO App will NOT work. It will not work because Comcast refuses to authorize the ROKU for use with the HBO Go application.

HBO Go requires activation by the cable provider in order to work. Try using HBO Go from a web browser, and it will prompt you to go to Comcast first to login, after which you will be accorded access to HBO Go. That is the issue here - Comcast has made apparently made a business decision not to allow HBO Go to be activated on their cable network.

They have not communicated the reasons for this, but suffice it to say that the use of Roku with HBO Go does threaten Comcast's revenue, and for now they seem to be circling the wagons.

I hope this helps you.