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HBO Go

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(Redirected from HBO GO)
Not to be confused with sibling service HBO Now or the former name of Max (streaming service), HBO Max.

HBO GO
Type of site
Video on demand
DissolvedJuly 31, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-07-31) (North America)
June 29, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-06-29) (Latin America and the Caribbean)
October 26, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-10-26) (Nordic Europe and Spain)
March 8, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-03-08) (Central and Eastern Europe and Portugal)
Late 2024 (Asia)
Predecessor(s)HBO on Broadband
Successor(s)Max
HeadquartersNew York, New York,
United States
ParentHome Box Office, Inc.
RegistrationSubscription to HBO through participating pay television provider required to access content
LaunchedFebruary 18, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-02-18)
Current statusClosed (Americas and Europe)
Active (Asia)

HBO Go is an authenticated video-on-demand streaming system of the pay television service HBO, now serving only the Southeast Asian region at least until late 2024. The service previously allowed only subscribers to HBO via television providers to access its on-demand programming via the HBO website, mobile apps, and digital media players, among other devices.

The service began to be phased out in the United States in 2020 following the launch of HBO Max (later rebranded as Max), the new subscription streaming service featuring content from both HBO and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. HBO Max would be made available at no additional charge to HBO subscribers on participating providers, but would also be available on a direct-to-consumer basis.

The "HBO Go" brand is also used in international markets for TV Everywhere and over-the-top services offering HBO programming. HBO Canada also previously operated an HBO Go service,[1] but this was discontinued in 2018 when its parent service, The Movie Network, rebranded as Crave and merged with a previously-separate streaming service that held rights to HBO library programming.[2][3]

Overview

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HBO Go was the successor to HBO on Broadband, which was originally launched in January 2008 to Time Warner Cable customers in the Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, areas. Programming content available on the service consisted of 400 hours of feature and HBO original television films (including 130 movie titles that rotated monthly), specials and original series that could be downloaded to computers, at no extra charge for HBO subscribers; in order to access HBO on Broadband content, users had to be a digital cable customer that had a subscription to HBO, and used Time Warner Cable's Roadrunner cable modem service.[4][5]

The service launched nationally as HBO Go on February 18, 2010, initially available through Verizon FiOS.[6] Over the following years, the service expanded to other providers including AT&T U-verse,[7] Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable,[8] DirecTV,[9] Dish Network,[10] Suddenlink Communications,[11] and Charter Communications in some states,[12][13] as well as through vMVPD services AT&T TV Now, AT&T TV and Hulu. The service can be accessed through a web browser or through apps for select smart TV sets, Amazon Fire, iOS, Android, Chromecast, Roku, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

At launch, the service was accessible only on personal computers via the HBO website. Applications for iOS and Android devices were released on April 29, 2011, making the service available on smartphones and tablet computers.[14] The app had over one million downloads in its first week, and was downloaded over three million times by the end of June 2011.[15][16]

In October 2011, Roku streaming players became the first television-connected devices to support the service, and availability was later rolled out to the Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation consoles, Samsung Smart TVs, and Xbox consoles. Availability on set-top boxes and gaming consoles is determined by individual cable providers in the United States with some omissions. Currently Comcast does not support the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Fire TV and did not support Roku players until late 2014.[17][18] Sling TV subscribers who receive HBO through that service are unable to access HBO Go, since HBO's live feed and on-demand content is available through the Sling TV apps.[19] The same also applies to PlayStation Vue subscribers except they also have access to HBO Now.[20]

In January 2019, HBO Go was dropped from PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Samsung Smart TVs released before 2013.[21]

Content

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HBO Go previously streamed a selection of theatrically-released films (via the film studios that maintain distribution deals with HBO, including 20th Century Studios, Universal Pictures and network sister company Warner Bros. Pictures), with a significant number of titles added and removed from the service every month.

HBO original series are available on a permanent basis, where new episodes of current series are typically available for streaming beginning at the time of their initial broadcast in the United States' Eastern Time Zone on the linear HBO channel.[22]

However, several past HBO series have not been carried by HBO Go, including Tales from the Crypt, Tenacious D, 1st & Ten, Da Ali G Show, and The Ricky Gervais Show.[23] The Larry Sanders Show and Arliss were not made available until they were added in 2016 and 2018 respectively.[24][25] Moreover, unlike TV Everywhere services offered by most other broadcast and cable-satellite television networks, HBO Go does not provide access live streams of HBO's linear channels, though programming was made available as soon as it started on the wireline networks.

Discontinuation

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In the U.S., HBO Go was deprecated following the launch of WarnerMedia's HBO Max service in May 2020; the company had reached agreements with individual providers to give HBO subscribers access to HBO Max at no additional charge.[26][27] HBO Max was not supported for several months on certain devices supported by HBO Go, including Amazon Fire and Fire TV (arrived on that platform on November 17, 2020).[27] and Roku (December 17, 2020).[citation needed]

On June 12, 2020, it was announced that because "the large majority of HBO Go usage occurs on platforms with whom we have HBO Max deals currently in place", HBO Go would be discontinued on July 31, 2020.[28] HBO Now, a separate, direct-to-consumer version of the HBO service,[29] was also folded into HBO Max on-launch for most subscribers.[26][27]

Warner Bros. Discovery has continued to use the HBO Go branding for services in eight Southeast Asian markets. WarnerMedia originally planned to relaunch these services as HBO Max in 2022, but the launch was shelved in favor of an upcoming relaunch of the service (along with HBO Go in these markets) known simply as Max, which is expected to include Discovery+ content, in fall 2024.[30][31][32][33]

Platforms

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References

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  1. ^ "The Movie Network Launches Three Video Streaming Services". Broadcaster Magazine. February 28, 2013. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  2. ^ "All-New Crave Features HBO Collection". TVCanada. November 1, 2018. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  3. ^ "HBO Goes Direct to Consumer in Canada to Challenge Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  4. ^ Gary Levin (January 21, 2008). "It's not TV, it's HBO – on your computer". USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  5. ^ Peter Lauria (January 21, 2008). "HBO on Broadband in Restricted Rollout". New York Post. News Corporation. Archived from the original on January 11, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  6. ^ Georg Szalai (February 17, 2010). "HBO GO heads to FiOS". The Hollywood Reporter. Guggenheim Digital Media. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  7. ^ Lawler, Richard (November 29, 2010). "HBO GO, MAX GO now available on AT&T's U-verse". Engadget. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  8. ^ R. Thomas Umstead (March 2, 2011). "Cox To Offer HBO To Go". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  9. ^ "DIRECTV to Launch HBO GO and MAX GO, April 12". DirecTV (Press release). April 11, 2011. Archived from the original on April 17, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  10. ^ "Dish Network Offers HBO GO and MAX GO, Presenting More Than 1,800 On-Demand Movies and Original Series to Online Customers". Dish Network (Press release). April 21, 2011. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  11. ^ Todd Spangler (April 26, 2011). "Suddenlink Takes HBO And Cinemax To Go". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  12. ^ Todd Spangler (July 21, 2011). "Charter Officially Delivers HBO, Cinemax To Go". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
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  14. ^ a b c Ryan Lawler (April 29, 2011). "HBO Go Now Available on iPad, iPhone and Android". Gigaom. GigaOmniMedia, Inc. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
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  16. ^ Kevin Sullivan (June 27, 2011). "HBO GO passes 3 million downloads. Is it worth it?". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
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  19. ^ https://help.hbogo.com/hc/en-us/articles/205404147-Can-I-subscribe-to-HBO-GO-by-using-Sling-as-my-TV-provider-[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ Dwayne Benefield. PS Vue: HBO, Cinemax, New Ultra Plan Arrive Today Archived March 8, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, playstation.com, September 29, 2016.
  21. ^ "Device support changes: PlayStation 3, Samsung TV, and Xbox 360". Archived from the original on February 22, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  22. ^ Jonathan Vankin (April 6, 2014). "'Game Of Thrones' Premiere Live Stream Online, But Will HBO Go Crash Again?". Inquisitr. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  23. ^ Erik Adams, Sam Adams; Phil Dyess-Nugent, Will Harris and Kyle Ryan (May 15, 2013). "It's not TV—and it's not available on HBO Go: 27-plus HBO originals unavailable from the streaming service". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 27, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  24. ^ It's Official: 'The Larry Sanders Show' Coming to HBO Go and HBO Now in September Archived August 2, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. The Hollywood Reporter. 30 July 2016.
  25. ^ HBO Original Series Arli$$: The Art of the Sports Superagen Available to Stream on HBO NOW and HBO GO Starting September 14, 2018. [dead link] The Futon Critic. 23 August 2018.
  26. ^ a b Hayes, Dade (May 20, 2020). "WarnerMedia Locks HBO Max Distribution Deals With Seven New Partners, From Pay-TV To PlayStation, Xbox And Samsung". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  27. ^ a b c Flint, Joe; Rizzo, Lillian (May 27, 2020). "HBO Max Leaves AT&T at Odds With Amazon and Roku". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  28. ^ Solsman, Joan E. (June 12, 2020). "HBO is getting rid of HBO GO, renaming HBO Now since HBO Max is live". CNET. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  29. ^ Chris Welch (March 9, 2015). "HBO Now coming in April for $14.99 per month, Apple TV price cut to $69". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
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  31. ^ Spangler, Todd (August 4, 2022). "HBO Max, Discovery+ to Merge Into Single Streaming Platform Starting in Summer 2023". Variety. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  32. ^ "Warner Bros Discovery closes in on 'Max' as the name of its combined HBO Max-Discovery+ streaming service". CNBC. December 5, 2022. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  33. ^ Maas, Jennifer (April 12, 2023). "Warner Bros. Discovery Unveils 'Max': Everything Revealed at Combined HBO Max-Discovery+ Streaming Presentation". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  34. ^ Adriana Lee (December 16, 2014). "HBO Go Hits Amazon Fire TV, May Bring Cord-Cutting Service Too". ReadWrite. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  35. ^ "HBO Go gets an Android TV app, but not for Comcast subscribers". Archived from the original on October 29, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
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  38. ^ "HBO Latin America Press Room". www.hbolapress.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  39. ^ "Mola TV Gandeng HBO GO, Tawarkan Layanan Premium". Detikcom. September 5, 2020. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  40. ^ "HBO Go Available on PS4 Later Today". Playstation. Sony Interactive. March 3, 2015. Archived from the original on March 3, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  41. ^ "Introducing Roku LT and a Sneak Peek at HBO GO". Roku. October 11, 2011. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  42. ^ "Roku Channel Store". Roku. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
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  44. ^ "TiVo adds HBO GO and Toon Goggles – the perfect DVR for all ages! - TiVo Blog". Archived from the original on April 8, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  45. ^ Eddie Makuch (June 4, 2014). "HBO Go, Twitter, Vine Coming to Xbox One By End of 2014". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
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