Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

HBO Now goes live on Apple devices today, in time for Game of Thrones

Ryan Waniata
By

game-of-thrones-season-4
HBO’s standalone streaming service HBO Now went live today on Apple devices, and became available for Cablevision customers. The service will allow subscribers to watch all of HBO’s current catalog, both live and on-demand, for $15 per month.

As was promised at Apple’s Spring Forward event, the service is live in time for subscribers to catch the season premiere of the powerhouse series Game of Thrones. Viewers will be able to catch the new season as it airs, along with Silicon Valley, a handful of forthcoming premieres, and HBO’s deep catalog of content.

Related Videos

HBO has been teasing the new service since October 2014, claiming the service was being prepped to go after the “80 million homes that do not have HBO,” and that the premium network would use “all means at (its) disposal to go after all of them.”

Related

That said, the launch is somewhat of a humdrum affair given the lack of availability to so many of those 80 million homes. Aside from a relatively small collection of Cablevision subscribers in the New York region, only the Apple faithful will be invited to pony up their $15/month for the new service, and only Apple TV users will be able to conveniently watch on the big screen without some creative wiring from iPads and iPhones.

Apple’s semi-exclusive deal is reported to last for the first 3 months of the service. Presumably, HBO will then reach out to the sprawling list of competing hardware platforms, such as Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV streaming stick, Roku’s full family of devices, and Google’s Chromecast. The service was rumored to be working with five different device makers, though no other specifics have been announced. HBO’s live TV service and on-demand content will also be available on Dish’s Internet TV service, Sling TV, very soon, but that service requires a $20 basic subscription fee on top of the $15 HBO price.

Speculation as to why HBO Now will be exclusive to Apple has been rampant. It is possible Apple reached into its deep pockets in hopes of spinning the partnership into an opportunity to liquidate the last of its aging Apple TV inventory ahead of the launch of its next-gen device, expected to premiere in the coming months. Apple also lowered the price of its current Apple TV to $69.

It is also possible HBO views the exclusive arrangement as an opportunity to test the waters before the new streaming service launches en masse. As was evidenced by Sling TV’s recent misstep during this year’s Final Four airing, Web TV can be a tricky affair. HBO reportedly ran into issues while in initial development of the service, turning to MLB Advanced Media for help in developing HBO Now.

Whatever the reasons, for most users, HBO Now will only be available through Cupertino currency for the foreseeable future. Those ready to dive in can sign up for a free trial of HBO Now through the service’s webpage today.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
FuboTV is now just … Fubo
FuboTV app icon on Apple TV.

FuboTV — the fourth-largest live TV streaming service in the U.S. — today announced that it's doing what a good many folks have been doing for some time now. It's dropping the "TV" from its name and shifting its consumer-facing products to "Fubo." And because you can't change your name without telling anyone, it's enlisted the help of NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez in an ad campaign to let everyone know.

The new branding will roll out across the company's apps and other products in the coming months.

Read more
Jabra’s $100 Elite 4 are its most affordable ANC earbuds yet
The Jabra Elite 4 true wireless earbuds.

Jabra today launched the latest member of its flagship Elite line of true wireless earbuds, the step-up Elite 4. Picking up where the popular Jabra Elite 3 left off, the $100 earbuds aren't a huge departure, but add some key new features, such as active noise cancellation (ANC), Bluetooth multipoint connectivity, and Swift Pair linking with Windows PCs.

Jabra's Elite line of true wireless earbuds are top performers for the brand (and some of the best earbuds around, period), with several models of them landing on our top earbud lists over the years, including the stellar Elite 7 Pro and the Elite 85t. Sitting at the more affordable end of Jabra's lineup, 2021's Elite 3s were a great-sounding pair of super-comfortable earbuds with easy-to-use physical controls on each bud, and a wide range of customizable features through the Jabra Sound+ app.

Read more
Samsung confirms its 2023 QD-OLED TVs start at just $1,900, are available now
Samsung 2023 S95C (left) and S90C QD-OLED TVs.

Ever since Samsung formally announced the $4,500 price tag of its highly anticipated 77-inch S95C 4K QD-OLED TV, we've been patiently waiting to hear how much the company's other 2023 OLED models will cost. Now we know that S90C will be its most affordable 2023 QD-OLED model at $1,900 for the 55-inch screen size. You can order them starting March 20 at most major Samsung retailers, except the 65-inch S90C, which is confirmed, but has yet to be released.

Samsung S95C (left) and S90C 2023 QD-OLED TVs. Samsung

Read more