Home Box Office announced today the name of its standalone premium streaming service - HBO NOW - and that the service will launch this April, bringing the highly anticipated new product to audiences in time for the fifth season ofGame of Thrones. HBO and Apple also announced that for the first time an HBO subscription will be made available directly to Apple customers through HBO NOW.
“HBO NOW is the next phase of innovation at HBO. With this new partnership, a natural evolution for the network, we have access to millions of Apple customers who are used to getting their favorite apps immediately. Now, they can do the same with an HBO subscription.”
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, had this to say in his statement.
Similar to HBO GO, HBO NOW will offer more than 2,000 titles online. This includes current critically acclaimed series likeGame of Thrones,True Detective,Silicon Valley,Girls,VeepandThe Leftovers, as well as classics likeThe Sopranos,Sex and the City,True Blood,The WireandDeadwood.
Highly-anticipated upcoming original programs likeWestworld, the drama series starringAnthony Hopkins,Ed HarrisandEvan Rachel Wood; The Brink, the dark comedy series starringJack BlackandTim Robbins; the new season of the Emmy-winningTrue DetectivewithVince Vaughn,Colin FarrellandRachel McAdams; and HBO Films’Bessie, starringQueen Latifah, will become available on HBO NOW as they air on HBO.
In addition, HBO NOW will showcaseLast Week Tonight with John Oliver, named “best of 2014” on many critics' lists; VICE, the Emmy-winning, cutting-edge news magazine series hosted by Shane Smith; HBO Sports documentaries, series and World Championship Boxing events; and groundbreaking documentary programming like Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst and the Oscar-winning Citizenfour.
