FLOW and cable content provider Home Box Office (HBO) have signed an agreement that allows the local broadband communications company to distribute a new HBO product in the Jamaican marketplace. But it’s still unclear how much local customers will be required to pay for the service.

“We are very pleased to reach an agreement with HBO”, said Flow director of marketing, Sharon Roper, in a press release on Friday.

“It has been a long and rigorous negotiation, as Flow was determined to get the best options for our customers,” she added.

According to Flow, it is still trying to finalise the cost of the product to local customers, but noted that the final packaging and pricing has to be within HBO’s International guidelines on how HBO content can be sold.

Meanwhile, Roper stated that Flow was able to negotiate free access up to January 31 for the content.

“Flow will allow all residential customers on our network to preview the new HBO content during the Christmas season. This is our Christmas gift to our customers,” she said.

Flow said that the new HBO services will offer viewers in Jamaica access to the extensive range of HBO movies, drama series and family entertainment, of which HBO is well known for across the World.

According to Roper, following the free view period, customers who choose to sign up to HBO will begin paying for these channels in February 2010. More details of the range of HBO packages, she said, will be communicated in the next few weeks.

“We want to provide the most flexible package options and price points, allowing customers to select a package that meets their individual needs,” she said.

In September, the Broadcasting Commission delivered a cease and desist order to three Kingston cable operators — Flow, Telstar Cable and Logic One — following a complaint from HBO that its intellectual property rights were being violated because the local operators weren’t paying for its signals. According to the cable content provider, as a result, it was losing out on some US$5 to 6 million in Jamaica alone.

Telstar last month advised customers that negotiations between itself and HBO were at an advance stage. The cable company said, at the time, that HBO was requesting that it charges US$3 per customer for two channels distributed through HBO Latin America Group.