WarnerMedia shutters HBO Go; rebrands HBO Now
June 15, 2020
WarnerMedia has unveiled plans to consolidate its various HBO-branded offerings. The company, which launched its HBO Max SVoD service last month, will phase out HBO Go in July, while HBO Now will be folded into the HBO app in the near future.
Current HBO Now subscribers will be able to continue accessing HBO through a rebranded HBO app. The company differentiated HBO Max and HBO by noting that HBO Max is an app that includes all of HBO together with additional WarnerMedia content offerings, while the HBO app will be a standalone streaming platform for the HBO service.
A WarnerMedia statement read: “Now that HBO Max has launched and is widely distributed, we can implement some significant changes to our app offering in the US. As part of that plan, we will be sunsetting our HBO Go service in the US. We intend to remove the HBO Go app from primary platforms as of July 31, 2020. Most customers who have traditionally used HBO Go to stream HBO programming are now able to do so via HBO Max, which offers access to all of HBO together with so much more. Additionally, the HBO Now app and desktop experience will be rebranded to HBO. Existing HBO Now subscribers will have access to HBO through the rebranded HBO app on platforms where it remains available and through play.hbo.com.”