HBO NOW prepares its debut on Apple TV along with Game of Thrones

Clients Apple TV will be able to follow the adventures of Khaleesi, Tyrion and the rest of the cast of Game of Thrones without the need to hire a cable subscription service. The option of HBO of online streaming, the HBO NOW, began to be made available last Tuesday (07/03/2015) through the internet service of Optimum Online (provider belonging to the cable TV service, cablevision). The price to sign up is US$ 14,99 (about Real 46) per month, although people who sign up this month will be able to do a trial 30 days free.

The news comes approximately a month after Apple revealed it had an exclusivity deal to make the HBO NOW via streaming all with Apple TV, iPad e iPhone. The idea is to contemplate the new lifestyle habits of consumers, which have been changing in recent years. One of the biggest features of this change is support, which shifts from the TV set to mobile devices. Redes how HBO and cable TV providers such as cablevision have experimented with internet television services, even though the move may paradoxically undermine the thriving earnings they currently receive from conventional television subscriptions.

Apple's deal is exclusive to the "new digital distributors," meaning rival devices designed to watch streaming video via the Internet on their televisions - such as Roku, chromecast from Google and Microsoft Xbox – will not be able to offer the new service for three months. While the three-month window is relatively short, it covers the entire new season of Game of Thrones, audience-winning series of HBO, which starts Sunday.

A cablevision is the first pay-TV provider to offer this type of service premium. The move generated accusations that the company was becoming a “cord cutters” (cable cutters, in literal translation, which would correspond to people who abandon the cable or satellite TV service, in favor of transmissions via streaming).

This can be better understood if we analyze some data: cablevision meets about 3 million of customers (including 2,8 million of broadband customers Optimum Online) in the region de New York. It is the eighth largest cable TV provider in the USA. If we compare with the Comcast – the largest cable company in the US – which has 22,4 million of video service customers and 22 million of broadband customers, the cablevision seems to have more to gain than to fear.

Apple lowered the price of Apple TV from $99 (about Real 300) for $69 (about Real 210) in March, with the announcement of the partnership agreement with HBO NOW, the device has become the most purchased of its kind worldwide. Of course, we cannot forget the unprecedented market reach of Apple and its symbolic influence, but the partnership with HBO, without a doubt, had a positive impact on the sales of Apple TV.

In Brazil, unfortunately, we still do not have an estimate of when the Apple TV and other services streaming online will be available, which is very curious, since last year the country surpassed the mark of 18 million TV subscriptions (data from ANATEL/IBGE). If abroad the dispute for the Iron Throne will start more free of ties, here in Brazil we will still have to wait a little longer to cut the cables.

Source: CNet