This seems like it could go a little amiss.

How exactly do you monetize this the right way? Does HBO even have adsales people, or is this supposed to just drive subscriptions?

UPDATE: This article from The Hollywood Reporter makes a little more sense of how they plan on executing the strategy.  It seems like it’s kind of half-baked, mainly because: 1) it goes in the opposite direction of what Time Warner’s potential pay-per-use internet pricing could be and 2) it seems like there’s some logistical lapses as to how the service will work, like with expiration and things like that.

I would think the idea of getting some sort of online/digital presense sooner rather than later is their primary goal right now, and they’ll probably end up drastically changing the way it works by the time it’s rolled out nation-wide.