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AT&T offers free HBO with its cheaper unlimited plan
AT&T's initial offer of free HBO access to wireless subscribers was tempting, but there was a catch: you had to spring for an Unlimited Plus plan, which at $90 or more per month isn't a trivial expense. Now, however, you don't have to be such a big spender. The carrier is extending bonus HBO access to Unlimited Choice customers on September 15th, giving you the same streaming TV if you pay as little as $60 per month for cellphone service. This is one of the few perks of giant mergers, it seems. There are some catches to getting a freebie like this on a low-cost tier, of courser. The Choice plan caps your cellular data at 3Mbps and limits you to a maximum resolution of 480p for video streaming, so you might want to stay on WiFi for that Game of Thrones re-watch.
‘Game of Thrones’ season seven gets a behind-the-scenes series
It's been a long 24 hours since Game of Thrones finished its seventh season with last night's finale, but the long wait until the final episodes will be worse. To nurse your longing for Westeros' dysfunctional band of enemies and frenemies, HBO is airing a whole new behind-the-scenes series. The Game Revealed will give the premium network's viewers a seven-episode look at the season that just ended, but HBO has uploaded the first on Facebook and YouTube for all to watch.
HBO Go makes it easier to binge watch on your phone
You'd think that HBO would make marathon viewing a priority in all its apps when its shows practically beg for it, but no. Until now, the HBO Go mobile app has asked you to play episodes one at a time. At last, though, the network has seen the light. Both the Android and iOS HBO Go apps have introduced the binge watching features you take for granted with Netflix and other streaming services. The software will offer the next unseen episode for a given show (or ask you to resume a paused show), and it'll automatically play the next installment without asking for your input.
HBO will stream its Sunday lineup early to make room for Oscars
You won't have to choose between following the Oscars this Sunday and catching up on your favorite HBO show. The network just announced that it will stream the next episodes of Girls, Big Little Lies and Crashing on HBO Now/Go two days early on Friday, February 24th. Additionally, the episodes will also pop up early on the network's on-demand offerings.
Apple's 'single sign-on' feature now works with HBO Go
Apple's "single sign-on" feature has only been live since mid-December but it's already attracted some impressive services. In addition to A&E, Bravo, NBC, Syfy and USA, which launched with the feature, WatchESPN added the functionality in January and, on Thursday, HBO announced that its HBOGo app will now support it as well.
Comcast finally allows HBO, ESPN streaming via PlayStation 4
For those who maintain a cable subscription, one of the (many) annoying aspects is that sometimes channels have streaming apps you can't use, despite being a paying customer. Over the years, Comcast has decided that it's not going to allow customers to use whatever channel's app on one platform or another, but now the PlayStation 4 is off of that list. According to a tweet, owners with Comcast subscriptions can finally log in and use the WatchESPN and HBO Go apps on their game console.
Watch HBO and Cinemax on PlayStation Vue starting today
PlayStation is beefing up the premium offerings on its PS Vue streaming TV service. As of today, HBO and Showtime will be available as part of the new Ultra ($64.99 to $74.99 per month based on location) plan. Don't feel like ponying up that much? Both HBO and Cinemax are $15 per month on their own. A post on the PlayStation Blog says that this is the first internet-based pay-TV service to offer the channels both live and streaming without a bundled package.
HBO Now will soon arrive on PlayStation 3 and 4
Cord cutters who own PlayStation consoles: Now is your time to shine. Sony has announced today that HBO Now, the channel's standalone on-demand service, will soon be available on all PS3 and PS4 systems, (This includes the recently announced PlayStation 4 Pro). What's more, both HBO and Cinemax are coming to PlayStation Vue, Sony's streaming TV service, for $15 a month each. This is an especially big deal for cord cutters, as this marks the first time either network has offered live programming as a standalone service. That's right: live programming, and not just the on-demand shows like you would get on HBO Now.
Lionsgate and Starz join forces to compete with HBO, Netflix
In an effort to compete with the likes of HBO and Netflix, Lionsgate Entertainment and Starz are joining forces. The former is picking up the latter for $4.4 billion in cash and stock, according to The LA Times. The deal seems mutually beneficial. With it, Starz gets some industry cachet (and a bunch of cash) that could help it attract projects that'd otherwise go toward HBO and Netflix. If that means more like the fantastic Ash vs Evil Dead, hey, alright.
HBO is bringing a cord-cutter streaming service to Spain
HBO's planning to introduce a standalone streaming service in Spain, Bloomberg Business reports. The TV network is said to be eager to take on Netflix across that European region, as it looks to increase its offerings for cord-cutters worldwide. Right now, it's unclear whether this would be a version of Now, the pay-TV-free service HBO announced last April during an Apple event. But, according to the news publication, HBO is expected to launch the service in Spain by the end of the year.
'Sesame Street' begins its first HBO season on January 16th, 2016
You won't have too much longer to wait to see how HBO handles Sesame Street. The network says it's launching the 46th season of the kids' show on January 16th, 2016 at 9AM (Eastern and Pacific). You'll have streaming access to five years' worth of episodes on both HBO Go and HBO Now, too. Just be prepared for a different experience than you remember from your childhood. Sesame Street pisodes will run 30 minutes instead of a full hour (ostensibly to help kids "focus"), and there are "updates" to both the show's iconic opening as well as the homes of its best-known characters.
Gogo's next generation in-flight WiFi launches next year
Gogo's new 2Ku in-flight WiFi might not be as fast as your home internet connection, but it gets the job done -- and a lot faster than current in-flight connectivity. But how much will it cost? When will consumers get to use it? And of course, just how secure is the satellite internet service? For the answers to those questions and more, I sat down at a brief roundtable interview with CEO Michael Small and Vice President of Product Management Blane Boynton at the company's Chicago headquarters.
We pushed the in-flight WiFi of the future to its limit
It shouldn't have worked, but I streamed an episode of Last Week Tonight, a Twitch broadcast of Fallout 4, the premiere episode of Aziz Ansari's Master of None and Meow the Jewels all at once, all on airplane WiFi. In-flight WiFi giant Gogo demoed its next-gen version of mile-high connectivity, 2Ku, above the overcast November skies of Gary, Indiana, bragging 98 percent coverage around the world (the poles don't play nicely with airborne internet) at peak speeds of 70 Mbps. The reality is transfers much slower than that on a plane with roughly 25 journalists, business folks and Gogo staff all doing the same as me: trying to break the internet for about an hour.
Jon Stewart's return to TV will be on HBO's streaming TV services
Even after leaving the Daily Show behind, apparently Jon Stewart just couldn't stay away. HBO just announced it has signed a four year production deal with the TV host that will kick off with "short form digital content." He's apparently working with the graphics company OTOY on new technology that will allow him to create and post digital content "multiple times throughout the day" (we're going to guess that means Snapchats, Periscopes and vines, but who knows) on HBO Now. We contacted the network and confirmed that it will be on HBO Go as well for cable customers. According to Stewart "Appearing on television 22 minutes a night clearly broke me. I'm pretty sure I can produce a few minutes of content every now and again." [Image credit: Phil McCarten/Associated Press]
HBO Go launching as a standalone streaming service in Latin America
HBO's Go on-demand streaming service is set to launch in Latin America and the Caribbean as a standalone subscription product, the network revealed today. While HBO Go has been available in these areas for pay-TV subscribers, cord-cutters will soon be able to enjoy too -- but with some added benefits. The service is expected to be similar to HBO Now, which is only available in the US, offering access to both live TV as well VOD content. HBO says it plans to rollout the service in Spanish-speaking markets across Latin America and the Caribbean, plus Brazil (Portuguese), by the end of this year. First up: Colombia, with more to follow thereafter.
HBO's exclusive deal for 'Sesame Street' cuts out Amazon and Netflix
With HBO finally doing battle directly against streaming video subscriptions from Netflix and Amazon, its biggest strike against those two comes today with an exclusive deal for Sesame Street. Most of us have grown up with Big Bird, Cookie Monster and the rest available primarily through PBS and they'll still be there, but with this five-year deal, HBO gets a nine-month exclusive (cable and streaming) on new episodes. Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn called the arrangement "a true winning public-private partnership model," that will give it the funding to keep making new episodes of the show, and a new Sesame Street Muppet spinoff series.
Comcast unlocks HBO and Showtime streaming to Amazon Fire TV
Streaming services that use a cable TV subscription have an annoying wrinkle, where sometimes the provider can block them from working in places for apparently no reason at all. For Comcast customers that was the case for HBO Go and Showtime on Amazon's Fire TV and Fire TV stick, but starting today that changes. Like the agreement it reached a few months ago with Roku, Comcast is suddenly playing nice with Amazon's streaming hardware. Unfortunately, that courtesy still does not extend to Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, but according to Comcast it supports over 90 networks across 18 devices and expects that number to grow, so maybe there is hope.
'Game of Thrones' pirated 3.5 million times despite HBO Now
HBO seemed certain that offering customers the option to watch without a cable subscription through its $15/month "HBO Now" app would help curb the rampant piracy afflicting its most popular shows. Nope! Variety reports that the latest episode of HBO's megahit "Game of Thrones" has been illegally downloaded 3.5 million times, in a single 24-hour period. That's a new record. Per Danish piracy tracking site Excipio, this season's episode six edged out last week's record-setting 3.22 million downloads. And given that Excipio only really covers P2P piracy, not direct download websites, those numbers are probably a little light. This, of course, comes after the first four episodes of the season were leaked online a full day before the HBO premiere in April. It's enough to make one to just up and start murdering popular lead characters. [Image Credit: Getty]
HBO Now launches on the web and iOS in April
HBO CEO Richard Plepler just announced that its new cable-free streaming service will be available only on Apple devices (and PCs, per a press release) when it launches early next month. The price for HBO Now has also been confirmed at $14.99 per month, and it will be available in time for you to catch the season premiere of Game of Thrones on April 12th. Plepler also debuted a new GoT trailer, and mentioned that there will be a new channel on Apple TV for the service once it's available. Even better, there's a 30-day free trial for anyone that subscribes in April through the app. HBO is promising the service will have more than 2,000 titles online, "similar" to HBO Go. Update: For the full breakdown and details on Apple's 90-day digital exclusive deal, click here.
HBO Go comes to PS4, unless you have Comcast
Congratulations PS4 owners / HBO Go users, your long wait is over and the app is ready for your console. It's been over a year since HBO and Sony announced it was coming to the PlayStation 3 and 4, and one day shy of a year since it arrived on PS3. That wait apparently wasn't long enough for everyone though, as Comcast is the lone provider that won't let its subscribers log in via the new app. Otherwise, system owners can download the app today and activate it online, all with plenty of time to catch up before the next season of Game of Thrones hits, or HBO opens up its non-cable subscription options. HBO and Comcast aren't entirely out of sync though, as HBO and Cinemax's live channels came to the Xfinity TV Go streaming apps today, and in other premium channel news Dish Network customers have access to Showtime Anytime.
