HBO Brings a la Carte Programming to iTunes

May 13, 2008 By Nick Mokey

The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire and more are now available on an episode-by-episode basis through iTunes.

If you’re too cheap to spring for a $160-a-month cable package, but still want to catch Tony Soprano knocking off a few guys now and then, HBO now offers a slightly more affordable way to access its programming: iTunes. HBO and Apple jointly announced on Tuesday that many of the cable channel’s programs have arrived at the iTunes store for download.

Apple will initially offer six HBO series on iTunes, including The Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome, Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords and The Wire. The former three series have episodes priced at $1.99 per episode, while the latter three cost $2.99 per episode. While full seasons are available, Apple won’t offer any discount for purchasing episodes in bulk.

For its part, Apple seems happy to round out the iTunes library by finally bringing such popular shows aboard. “We’re thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, in a statement. “These are some of the most talked about television shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers.”

All episodes are immediately available for download via iTunes in video formats that will play on a computer, iPod, iPhone, or TV (with Apple TV).

Showing 3 comments

josh at 4:10am 14th May 2008 A good idea, but too expensive. Still, at least they're looking in the right direction, and from the company that invented the best EVER "hey, we're [this company]" video, that's a start.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=i1NKoMNy5bY -- will bring a tear to your eye if you had HBO in the 80s.
gary at 12:00pm 13th May 2008 $2.99! Your crazy HBO. Thanks for playing.I could wait and buy the episode box set for cheaper, or add HBO to my cable for less if I was a season watching fanatic.
James at 9:06am 13th May 2008 $2.99/episode is way too much money - even for HBO. I predict it will bomb within the year. You can rent a full blown high-quality movie for that much.