What’s the Difference Between HBO Max, HBO NOW, and HBO Go?


HBO Max Logo on a laptop screen.
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HBO’s mother or father organization, WarnerMedia, is launching a new membership-based mostly streaming services referred to as HBO Max. So, what does this signify for the existing streaming expert services, HBO Now and HBO Go? Perfectly, they are sticking about, thanks to a confusing company history of contracts.

HBO Max Is Much more Information for the Exact same Selling price

If you really don’t at the moment subscribe to any HBO service, all you need to know is HBO Max gives you the largest content material library for the most effective price ($14.99 for each month). So, by all signifies, conserve yourself the headache of figuring out which of the three expert services is ideal for you, and just go with the ideal. If you’re previously subscribed to HBO via your cable company (HBO Go) or HBO’s previous providing (HBO Now), here’s a fundamental breakdown:

  • HBO Max ($14.99 per thirty day period): The new stand-on your own streaming company from WarnerMedia incorporates every little thing on HBO Now, furthermore supplemental motion pictures and Tv from partners like BBC Studios, The Criterion Assortment, and Warner Bros.
  • HBO Now ($14.99 per thirty day period): This is the older stand-alone streaming support, that includes HBO written content, but none from any of its associates. Some HBO Now subscribers will get totally free access to HBO Max when the new support launches on May possibly 27, 2020.
  • HBO Go: This is the bundled streaming company that permits cable subscribers to access HBO content on their a variety of electronic equipment.

Why would WarnerMedia generate a new HBO stand-by itself streaming services when 1 now exists? The reply lies deep in the tangled world-wide-web and dim history that is modern day American company media.

HBO Now Is Older, Lesser, and Shrinking

Most buyers will prefer HBO Max in excess of HBO Now. In fact, it is difficult to arrive up with any rationale to stay with HBO Now, unless of course you get it for cost-free with an current membership to a Google, Amazon, Verizon, or Hulu assistance. Centered on the tactic WarnerMedia is getting, that appears to be by design.

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HBO Now is a streaming service from HBO, while HBO Max is a streaming services from HBO’s dad or mum corporation, WarnerMedia. This signifies HBO Max will have a great deal extra information. And some of that material will be unique by means of partnerships with BBC Studios, The Criterion Collection, Cartoon Community, and additional, all for the same value. Owing to the intricate contracts HBO and WarnerMedia have built up with shoppers and partners in excess of the final 10 years, only some HBO Now customers will receive free of charge accessibility to HBO Max.

Not sure whether your HBO Now membership will allow you to access HBO Max when it launches? Thankfully, HBO has a practical guideline on how to change your HBO Now subscription centered on your service provider.

If you access your HBO NOW membership via a service—like Verizon, for example—you can obtain HBO Max specifically at launch. If you have AT&T, even so, you may have to obtain HBO Max via YouTube Tv set. It all relies upon on how you presently obtain HBO articles, and all the methods you can do that are the culprits for all the confusion.

If you presently subscribe to HBO Now straight via HBO for $14.99 for every month, you can terminate and pay back the exact same price for the greater, improved information library.

HBO Go Is for Cable Subscribers

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Like HBO Now, HBO Go is a streaming assistance that arrives immediately from HBO. The important distinction is HBO Now is offered as a stand-by itself services, whereas HBO Go is only offered as an increase-on from support providers like Verizon, Cox, and DirecTV.

If you have HBO as a result of your cable company, you almost certainly shell out all over $15 extra for HBO every thirty day period. You can entry the bigger library of HBO Max by canceling your present HBO Go subscription and signing up right with HBO Max.

You will not be equipped to watch the typical HBO channel on cable, but you are going to discover all the similar content—and more—in the HBO Max app on your streaming unit.


Regardless of whether HBO and its parent firm, WarnerMedia, will attempt to clear up some of the brand name confusion in the long term stays to be witnessed. The consolidation of expert services and/or written content is the apparent aim. Having said that, as anybody common with the mother nature of amusement contracts will convey to you, it’s also certainly a pipe aspiration.

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