HBO Go Lands on PS4, Showtime Anytime Comes to Dish
Premium cable nets HBO and Showtime are coming to more Internet-connected devices and services — but for now, you’ll still need to subscribe to cable or satellite TV to get them.
The HBO Go app for Sony’s PlayStation 4 will be available to download later Tuesday, according to the game-console maker. The PS4 version of the app will function like the one for PS3, providing access to HBO original series including “True Detective,” “Silicon Valley” and “Game of Thrones” as well as older fare. As with other HBO Go platforms, users must subscribe to the network from a pay-TV provider to get access on the PS4.
Showtime Networks, meanwhile, announced that its online-video service — Showtime Anytime — is now available to Dish Network customers who subscribe to the premium cable service.
In addition to live access to the network’s East and West Coast feeds, Showtime Anytime provides hundreds of hours of on-demand content, including current and past seasons of such originals as “Homeland,” “The Affair,” “Shameless,” “Ray Donovan,” “Masters of Sex” and “Penny Dreadful.” The service is supported on multiple devices including computers, tablets, smartphones, Apple TV, Roku, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, and Microsoft’s Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles.
Both premium cablers have announced plans to launch direct-to-consumer, over-the-top Internet versions of their services — which wouldn’t require a pay-TV account. But neither has divulged specifics, including pricing and availability.
HBO last fall outlined plans to launch a standalone version of its service in 2015, with execs saying they need a way to reach broadband-only homes, and Showtime subsequently said it plans to go the OTT route as well.
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