Today at Apple's special media event, HBO CEO Richard Plepler took the stage with Apple CEO Tim Cook to announce HBO Now, HBO's new standalone streaming service. The announcement comes just under a week after it was first reported.
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The new service is exclusive for Apple TV and other Apple devices for $14.99 a month. The service will be ready in time for the series premiere of HBO hit show Game of Thrones on April 12, and users who sign up for the service in April will receive the first month of HBO Now for free.
HBO Now will feature all of HBO's original content, past and present, as well as its entire movie catalog. It appears to available only for customers in the United States, and, according to John Paczkowski, will be exclusive to Apple devices for three months.
Top Rated Comments
The day of cable / satellite subscription tyranny is over.
I think you have this totally wrong. For those who already subscribe to HBO via cable, there is HBO Go... which is free for them. For those who don't subscribe to cable, there is HBO Now, which will cost $14.99 per month. Not sure exactly how similar the services will be but, I assume that Go will have everything Now has and probably a little bit more.
HBO has deals with Warner, Universal and Fox and typically gets to air their new releases 10-15 months after the theatrical release of a film. Netflix currently has deals with DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation and Relativity to air their new releases approximately 6-9 months after theatrical. In addition, Nexflix has a deal with Epix to air their content (from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM) 6 weeks after it debuts on Epix, which is typcally 9 months after theatrical. Netflix also gets some, but not all, of the Weinstein Company's product, and typically can offer it 7-10 months after theatrical.
Currently, Disney and Sony new releases are available via Starz (and the Starz Play apps) approx 9-12 months after Theatrical and Showtime gets the few remaining CBS films, Dreamworks Theatrical (non animated) some of the Summit titles and the bulk of the Weinstein stuff, which is available on Showtime Anywhere. These are typically available 12-18 months after release.
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I think HBO will be quite happy to receive the money they are not currently getting from me when I sign up for this service.
Does anyone know if it will work with 2nd-gen ATVs or does it require 3rd-gen?
I'm happy to see it happen, but I can't say I'm happy with the price. Doesn't stand up well against Netflix's huge library for $9.99 or other competitors.
I understand that HBO has original content, but there is also so much less of it by comparison that I have a hard time justifying the additional premium. It just isn't a one-stop shop, y'know? HBO Now will always be in addition to another subscription if their content breadth doesn't improve.