Verizon has sealed the deal on a partnership with Time-Warner's HBO to offer the latter's Internet-only streaming service HBO Now.
The partnership was announced by both companies in a press release, saying HBO's over-the-top video-on-demand service is now available to subscribers of Verizon's broadband Internet services for the same $14.99 a month that HBO Now is available to everyone else. This means Americans subscribing to Verizon's DSL and FiOS Internet packages now have access to HBONow.
"Our customers want choice in accessing premium content when and where they choose, on a variety of devices," Ben Grad, executive director of content strategy and acquisition at Verizon, says in a statement. "HBO Now brings compelling content and choice to Verizon broadband customers today - and exciting possibilities for HBO content within Verizon's pending mobile video service."
Customers who want to take HBO Now for a spin before paying the monthly subscription fee can do so by availing of the 30-day free trial that HBO offers. Doing so will give Verizon customers full access to the HBO Now apps for Android, iOS and Amazon Fire OS as well as on their PC by accessing the desktop website at hbonow.com. This will bring fan favorites such Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley as well as recent box office hits such as Gone Girl and Horrible Bosses 2 straight to users' mobile devices.
The deal will also bring premium content from HBO to Verizon's upcoming mobile video service dubbed Go90, which is expected to launch later in the summer, opening up a potential market of 100 million users subscribed to Verizon's wireless network. Verizon has already announced a number of partnerships for Go90, which include media outlets such as DreamWorks, AwesomenessTV and Vice Media, but HBO is sure to be one of the most notable additions to Go90's list of partners.
It is still unclear what type of content will be available to Go90 users from HBO. As Verizon has described Go90 in earlier reports, the mobile video platform will serve up short-form content such as music videos and promotional clips to users for free, at least initially.
Other partners that are rumored to deliver content to Verizon's upcoming digital platform might include Fox, NFL and Vevo, as seen by Variety in a Go90 website accidentally put up by Verizon but later taken down. The company says none of these partnerships are final, though, so we might not see them on Go90 when the platform launches.
