Apple's 'Exclusive' HBO Deal Becomes Even Less Exclusive

Sling TV will offer HBO content in time for the Game of Thrones premier, raising the question of the meaning of Apple's supposed exclusive deal for HBO Now

Richard Plepler, chief executive officer of Home Box Office Inc. (HBO), speaks during the Apple Inc. Spring Forward event in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, March 9, 2015.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Joshua Brustein

April 1, 2015 at 9:06 PM UTC

Updated on

April 1, 2015 at 10:27 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Another company is grabbing the first-mover advantage in carrying HBO’s new Internet television service. On Wednesday, April 1, Sling TV announced it will be “the first live Internet TV service” to offer HBO content. For $15 a month, Sling TV subscribers can add HBO to their Internet television packages. The companies didn’t announce an exact launch date, but they did say it would be available in time for the season premiers of Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley on April 12.

The announcement comes less than a month after Richard Plepler, HBO’s chief executive, took the stage at an Apple event and said that company would be the exclusive carrier of HBO Now. While the companies didn’t announce it from the stage, the exclusivity didn’t extend to pay TV providers, which could still strike deals with HBO. Soon after Apple’s announcement, Cablevision said it would become the first cable company to offer HBO Now to broadband-only subscribers.