HBO is getting rid of HBO Go, renaming HBO Now since HBO Max is live
HBO Max, which broadcasts the full Game of Thrones catalog, was released on May 27.
HBO
HBO Max, when it arrived two weeks ago as an enhanced HBO streaming app with a lot of extra programming, also caused confusion as to how the new streaming service would fit the company’s two existing apps.
To simplify matters, the parent company of HBO – WarnerMedia from AT & T – announced on Friday that it will discontinue its HBO Go app by July 31, as the HBO Max app is “widespread”. The HBO Now app remains unchanged, except that the app is simply renamed to HBO.
HBO Go is the network’s first streaming app that allows regular HBO Pay TV subscribers to watch over the Internet. HBO Now is the station’s standalone streaming app that allows users to subscribe to and stream HBO without any other pay TV packages.
When the changes are complete, the company will have two streaming apps – HBO Max and HBO – instead of the current three.
But getting rid of HBO Go raises questions for people who rely on this app. The company’s plan to end HBO Go is based on the assumption that HBO Max is “widespread” as a replacement, but HBO Max is missing on key devices: Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Roku or Amazon Fire TV together make up 70% of streaming devices in the United States.
WarnerMedia has not been able to sign contracts with Roku and Amazon to support HBO Max. Once HBO Go is retired, anyone using HBO Go on a Roku or Fire TV to stream HBO programs will be out of luck. In order to be able to watch TV on television sets, these HBO pay-TV subscribers must watch HBO on their television sets without a streaming alternative if possible via their pay-TV provider.
“The vast majority of HBO Go usage occurs on platforms with which we currently have HBO Max contracts,” said the spokeswoman for HBO Max. “Although we do not yet have a distribution contract with Amazon or Roku, we continue to strive to HBO To make Max available to as many viewers as possible on each platform. “
Neither Roku nor Amazon immediately replied to messages looking for a comment.
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HBO Max is one of the last participants in the so-called streaming wars, a seven-month window in which media giants and technology titans have released a number of new streaming services for Netflix. These competitive struggles – newbies like HBO Max, Disney Plus, and NBCUniversals Peacock against heavyweights like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video – have caused big companies to put hundreds of millions of dollars in the hope of shaping the future of television.
