HBO NOW is great because for a long time you had to get a traditional HBO subscription through your cable provider to use the streaming service HBO GO. This new service is just for streaming online and doesn’t require a cable package whatsoever. However, signing up for HBO NOW requires an Apple device, which is strange considering you don’t need an Apple device to watch the content. You can also use HBO NOW through an app or on your Roku.
Once you’ve logged in on your Apple device, you can watch TV shows or movies on your desktop, tablet or through a casting device on your TV. Both the website and app are super easy to navigate and well-designed. The black background really makes each title stand out. The thing about HBO is while you can watch a variety of movies, almost all of the TV shows are HBO Originals. You can’t, for instance, watch NBC’s “The Office” or CBS’s “NCIS,” but you do have access to HBO exclusives like “Westworld” and “Big Little Lies.” The service does, however, carry current episodes of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” which airs on Comedy Central. When it comes to movies, we found a huge library covering all genres, with titles such as “Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights,” “Blow” and “Bride of Chucky.”
HBO NOW has parental controls to keep your children away from more adult content – and trust us, a lot of the available content is aimed more at adults. One of our reviewers experienced a lot of buffering before the start of each TV show and others felt the selection was lacking. However, we really liked the "Leaving Soon" and "Coming Soon" lists so you can plan out your viewing. Another thing that makes HBO NOW different is it still releases new TV shows one episode at a time. Netflix, comparatively, tends to release entire seasons at once. You won’t experience traditional commercials with HBO NOW, though we did notice some titles play an HBO show preview at the start.
In our tests, six reviewers used this service and rated it based on how easy it is to use. HBO GO earned an A because of that data, coming in a little better than YouTube Premium but not quite as good as Netflix. If money isn’t an object for you and your family, you can add additional services like Starz and Showtime to your HBO subscription to give you even more streaming content to choose from. If you sign up for this service you also get a free one-month trial to decide if you like it. With great original content and access to a lot of well-loved TV shows and movies, HBO GO is worth checking out.
