HBO Go

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

HBO Go is a partly-inactive authenticated video on demand of the pay television service HBO. The service allowed subscribers to HBO via television providers to access its programming on-demand via the HBO website, mobile apps, and digital media players among other devices.

HBO GO

Type of site	Video on demand
Dissolved	July 31, 2020; 2 years ago (2020-07-31) (North America) June 29, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-06-29) (Latin America and the Caribbean) October 26, 2021; 21 months ago (2021-10-26) (Nordic Europe and Spain) March 8, 2022; 16 months ago (2022-03-08) (Central and Eastern Europe and Portugal) Mid-2024 (Asia)
Predecessor(s)	HBO on Broadband
Successor(s)	Max
Headquarters	New York, New York, United States
Parent	Home Box Office, Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery)
Registration	Subscription to HBO through participating pay television provider required to access content
Launched	February 18, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-02-18)
Current status	Deprecated and sunsetted (Americas and Europe) Active (Asia)

The service began to be phased out in the United States in 2020 following the launch of HBO Max (Now known as Max in the United States), a new subscription streaming service featuring content from both HBO and parent company WarnerMedia. 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. For example, HBO Canada 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

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

HBO Go streamed a selection of theatrically released films (via film studios that maintain distribution deals with HBO including 20th Century Fox, 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. New episodes of current series are typically available for streaming beginning at the time of their initial broadcast in the Eastern Time Zone on the linear HBO channel.^[22]

However, HBO Go did not carry several past HBO series, such as Tales from the Crypt, Tenacious D, 1st & Ten, Da Ali G Show, or The Ricky Gervais Show.^[23] The Larry Sanders Show and Arliss were initially unavailable but 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 to near-real-time streams of HBO's linear channels.

Discontinuation

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 had 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 as simply Max which is expected to include Discovery+ content in mid-2024.^{[30][31][32][33]}

Platforms

• Amazon Fire TV (December 16, 2014)^[34]
• Android (April 29, 2011)^[14]
• Android TV (October 29, 2015)^[35]
• iOS (April 29, 2011)^[14]
• Apple TV (June 19, 2013)^[36]
• Google Chromecast (November 22, 2013)^[37]
• LG webOS (March 20, 2019)^[38]
• Mola (September 5, 2020)^[39]
• PlayStation 4 (March 3, 2015)^[40]
• Roku streaming players (October 11, 2011)^[41][42]
• Samsung Smart TVs, manufactured 2013 or later (February 17, 2012)^[43]
• TiVo (February 16, 2016)^[44]
• Xbox One (November 20, 2014)^[45]

References

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2. "All-New Crave Features HBO Collection". TVCanada. November 1, 2018. from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
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14. Ryan Lawler (April 29, 2011). "HBO Go Now Available on iPad, iPhone and Android". Gigaom. GigaOmniMedia, Inc. from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
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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]}
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21. "Device support changes: PlayStation 3, Samsung TV, and Xbox 360". from the original on February 22, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
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24. It's Official: 'The Larry Sanders Show' Coming to HBO Go and HBO Now in September 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.
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28. Solsman, Joan E. (June 12, 2020). "HBO is getting rid of HBO GO, renaming HBO Now since HBO Max is live". CNET. 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. from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
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32. "Warner Bros Discovery closes in on 'Max' as the name of its combined HBO Max-Discovery+ streaming service". CNBC. 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. from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
35. "HBO Go gets an Android TV app, but not for Comcast subscribers". from the original on October 29, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
36. Roberto Baldwin (June 19, 2013). "HBO GO Finally Arrives on Apple TV". Wired. Condé Nast. from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
37. Jim O'Neill (November 22, 2013). "HBO Go Launches on Chromecast as Mobile Video Mainstreams". Ooyala. from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
38. . 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. 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. from the original on March 3, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
41. . Roku. October 11, 2011. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
42. . Roku. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
43. Andrew Webster (February 17, 2012). "HBO Go now available on select Samsung Smart TVs". The Verge. Vox Media. from the original on November 11, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
44. . 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. from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.

External links

• Official website (redirect to HBO Max)]
• Asian version of HBO GO website