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Type of site | Video on demand |
---|---|
Dissolved | July 31, 2020 (North America) June 29, 2021 (Latin America and the Caribbean) October 26, 2021 (Nordic Europe and Spain) March 8, 2022 (Central and Eastern Europe and Portugal) Late 2024 (Asia) |
Predecessor(s) | HBO on Broadband |
Successor(s) | Max |
Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
Parent | Home Box Office, Inc. |
Registration | Subscription to HBO through participating pay television provider required to access content |
Launched | February 18, 2010 |
Current status | Closed (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]
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]
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.
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]
Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent network Home Box Office (HBO) and initially focusing on recent and classic films upon its launch on August 1, 1980. Programming featured on Cinemax currently consists primarily of recent and older theatrically released motion pictures, and original action series, as well as documentaries and special behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based at Warner Bros. Discovery's corporate headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Programming featured on the network consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television programs as well as made-for-cable movies, documentaries, occasional comedy, and concert specials, and periodic interstitial programs.
My5 is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The service went live on 26 June 2008. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by their Paramount Networks UK & Australia division.
YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel feeds and on-demand content from more than 100 television networks and over 30 OTT-originated services, as well as a cloud-based DVR.
TV Everywhere refers to a type of American subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" themselves as current subscribers to the channel, via an account provided by their participating pay television provider, in order to access the content.
A digital media player is a home entertainment consumer electronics device that can connect to a home network to stream digital media.
WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation.
The following is a list of on-demand music streaming services. These services offer streaming of full-length content via the Internet as a part of their service, without the listener necessarily having to purchase a file for download. This type of service is somewhat similar to Internet radio. Many of these sites have advertising that supports free-to-listen options as well as paid subscription-based premium options.
Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with a mobile device or personal computer through mobile and web apps that can use the Google Cast protocol, or by issuing commands via Google Assistant; later models introduced an interactive user interface and remote control. Content can be mirrored to video models from the Google Chrome web browser on a personal computer or from the screen of some Android devices.
TVPlayer is a United Kingdom Internet television service owned by international digital distribution company Alchimie. It provides access to free live television channel streams using a web browser or application software made for mobile devices.
Google TV is a digital distribution service for movies and television series. Google announced the service in September 2020, offering search and discovery of video titles across multiple streaming services, including rental or purchase options, alongside watchlist features for accessing titles from eligible devices and platforms. The buy, rent, or preorder options were shared with the predecessor Google Play Movies & TV, which has since moved to the newer service.
Crave is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media. The service competes directly with other subscription-based over-the-top streaming services operating in Canada, primarily against American-based services.
PlayStation Vue was an American streaming television service that was owned by the Sony Interactive Entertainment subdivision of the Sony Corporation of America division of Sony. Launched with a limited major-market rollout on March 18, 2015, the service – which was structured in the style of a multichannel video programming distributor – combined live TV, on-demand video, and cloud-based DVR to stream television programs, movies, and sporting events directly to a PlayStation console or other supported device – including smart TVs, digital media players and apps – without a subscription to a cable or satellite television provider. Targeting cord cutters, PlayStation Vue was designed to complement subscription video-on-demand services. As of August 26, 2018, the service had approximately 745,000 subscribers. On October 29, 2019, Sony announced PlayStation Vue would be ending service on January 30, 2020, because "the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected".
Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aims to complement subscription video on demand services for cord cutters, offering a selection of major cable channels and OTT-originated services that can be streamed through smart TVs, digital media players and apps. The service is available in the United States and Puerto Rico as of 2015.
HBO Now was an American subscription video on demand streaming service for premium television network HBO owned by WarnerMedia subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. Officially unveiled on March 9 and launched on April 7, 2015, the service allowed subscribers on-demand access to HBO's library of original programs, films and other content on personal computers, smartphones, tablet devices and digital media players. Unlike HBO Go, HBO's online video on demand service for existing subscribers of the linear television channel, HBO Now was available as a standalone service and did not require a television subscription to use, targeting cord cutters who use competing services such as Netflix and Hulu. In February 2018, HBO Now had 5 million subscribers.
The Apple TV app is a line of media player software programs developed by Apple Inc. for viewing television shows and films delivered by Apple to consumer electronic devices. It can stream content from the iTunes Store, the Apple TV Channels a la carte video on demand service, and the Apple TV+ original content subscription service. On iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Vision Pro, and Apple TV devices it can also index and access content from linked apps of other video on demand services.
Max, formerly and still known in some regions as HBO Max, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The platform offers content from the libraries of Warner Bros., Discovery, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, TBS, TNT, Eurosport, and their related brands. Max first launched in the United States on May 27, 2020.
Binge is a video streaming subscription service available in Australia, owned by Hubbl. The service offers on demand and live entertainment, lifestyle, reality and movies.
Discovery+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The service focuses on factual programming drawn from the libraries of Discovery's main channel brands, as well as original series, and other acquired content.