International Business Times brings word that HBO is gearing up to launch its standalone streaming service, HBO Now, in tandem with the much-anticipated premiere of Game of Thrones in April, when it will be available for $15 per month.
The Netflix-like business model, which will offer the network’s premium catalogue to non-cable owners for the very first time, has flirted with release for some time. Now, it appears HBO has set the wheels in motion, with IBT’s report suggesting that the company is in talks with Apple to secure the hardware giant as a launch partner – a partnership that would see the app appear on Apple TV.
At $15 per month, the price point is similar to the amount it costs to order the channel from a traditional cable company, and while it may come across as a significant jump over Netflix, there’s no doubting the quality of content in HBO’s prestigious vaults. From Girls to Silicon Valley, True Detective to the aforementioned Game of Thrones, the network owns a selection of some of the most critically-acclaimed shows on TV at the moment.
And the company’s move into the Internet space is indicative of the more direct, straight-to-consumer approach that we’ve seen from Netflix, Hulu and Amazon TV; offering up all of the user’s desired TV shows free from any long-form controls with cable networks. Plus, April is certainly a perfect window to debut HBO now given the monumental popularity of Game of Thrones, it just remains to be seen whether the service can compete in the big leagues considering that the competition has already been granted a substantial heads start.
Tell us, will HBO Now coax you into cutting the chord with cable TV? Let us know in the comments.
