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People who love original and full-on dramatic programs turn their heads to HBO. It is the oldest playing subscription TV service in the history of American entertainment.

The home box office or also known as HBO, keeps on introducing new services to entertain its audience, of which HBO Go and HBO Now are a part.

Key Takeaways

  1. HBO Go is a streaming service available only to those with an HBO cable subscription, whereas HBO Now is a standalone streaming service that does not require a cable subscription.
  2. HBO Go offers access to all the content available on HBO, whereas HBO Now only offers access to HBO’s original programming.
  3. HBO Go is being phased out and replaced by HBO Max, which offers access to all the content available on HBO and additional programming.

HBO Go vs HBO Now

HBO Go offers on-demand access to HBO’s library and live streaming of its TV channel. HBO Now is a standalone streaming service and is available to anyone in the US with an internet connection. It offers on-demand access to HBO’s entire library of TV shows, movies, and documentaries and live streaming of HBO’s TV channel.

HBO Go vs HBO Now

HBO Go is an American premium cable network launched on 18th February in the year 2010. It was solely created for HBO subscribers who stay outside America.

HBO Go allows subscribers to watch and stream HBO content, including old or new series, movies, events, etc.

HBO, now also known as HBO since July 2020, is an American subscription streaming platform owned by WarnerMedia. It was launched on 7th April in the year 2015.

HBO Now provides access to the vast library of HBO series, movies, and much more. HBO Now is just like Netflix and Amazon Prime you need no television subscription to work.

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Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonHBO GoHBO Now
DefinitionHBO Go is an online streaming service that is pre-included with the HBO package.HBO Now is a video-on-demand streaming platform that is a standalone platform and can be subscribed without any TV services.
How to useIt can only be used if the HBO subscription package is already existing.It is an independent platform without any cable or satellite connections.
CostThe cost keeps on fluctuating depending upon the cable service provider and the area.Cost is the same for every HBO subscriber.
Device to supportHBO Go is supported on almost every device and platform.HBO Now only supports a few major devices and platforms except for TiVo.
Authentication statusFor accessing HBO Go, authentication is needed to be done from the service provider.It does not require any authentication to access HBO Now.

What is HBO Go?

HBO Go was launched as an American premium cable network in the year 2010, considering the HBO subscribers who do not live in America or nearby America.

When people subscribe to the HBO package, they can watch any oldest to the newest HBO content, including series, movies, events, etc.

The shows that are available to stream on HBO aren’t cheap to create, and this is what appeals to their audience the most.

This premium cable network comprises high-end quality reward-winning production movies and series. From the legendary sci-fi movies and fantasies such as “Game of Thrones” and “Westworld” to A-lister dramas such as “Big Little Lies” and “Sharp Objects”.

If the audience has HBO Go App on their cellphones, all these epic movies and dramas are made available for them to watch from the comfort of their home or even in the busiest lane back home.

When HBO Go was launched in the year 2010, it was only available to be accessed through personal computers and laptops through the HBO official website.

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Applications for streaming HBO in Androids, smartphones, and tablets were made after one year of the launch, making it available to a huge mass of the population.

Because of this step that HBO Go took, there was over a million download of the app in the first week itself, and after two months of the mobile application being launched, the app was downloaded over three million times.

hbo go

What is HBO Now?

HBO Now, also known as HBO Time July 2020, was launched as an American video-on-demand service by the WarnerMedia subordinate company Home BOX Office. Inc.

It was officially unveiled on March 9th but was officially launched on April 7.

In the same year, 2015. HBO Now subscriptions let their audience access the wide library of HBO original content, which includes original movies, dramas, series, etc.

HBO Now is an independent video-on-demand platform that does not require any cable TV connections to work.

HBO Now is similar to Netflix and Amazon Prime, which provides original content with monthly subscriptions on mobile phones or personal computers.

HBO Now had access to many original Libraries of HBO.

Contents but were restricted from many series like Tales from the Crypt, Tenacious D. The Ricky Gervais show, which was available all over the internet. 

HBO Now is only made available for the people living in the areas of America and other species of the country.

Because of their regional rights restrictions, HBO was not allowed to offer its services to countries other than America.

The people outside the country, who used VPN to get access to the services HBO Now, their services were terminated because it was against HBO’s regional rights restrictions, and no refund was issued to them. 

hbo now

Main Differences Between HBO Go and HBO Now

  1. HBO Go is free of cost at its included in the HBO package, whereas HBO Now requires some specific payment to be done for providing their services.
  2.  HBO Go requires a TV or satellite connection for streaming purposes, while HBO Now doesn’t need any connections to cable TV.
  3. HBO Go doesn’t need any subscription to access movies or series as it is pre-included in the pack, whereas HBO Now needs to get subscribed to assess anything.
  4. There is no need for authentication to access HBO Now, whereas HBO Go needs the cable service provider to authenticate for it.
  5. HBO Go is supported on almost every device and platform, on the other hand, HBO now only supports major devices and platforms where TiVo is an exception.
References
  1. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hJTFAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=hbo+go&ots=DtJd7-SiiR&sig=w660Iao6qvETXliJPTOsgkwCozs
  2. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA528468565&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=21623171&p=AONE&sw=w

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By Piyush Yadav

Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.