Hulu has become the latest reseller of HBO. Today the company announced that subscribers can add HBO to their service for an extra $14.99 per month. That’s basically the same price as you’d pay for HBO Now anywhere else. Hulu’s HBO add-on is available to customers on all subscription plans, so you can get it both with the traditional, on-demand streaming service and Hulu’s newer live TV offering. Hulu is also launching a Cinemax add-on today for $9.99 monthly — a bit less than the premium that HBO demands.
However, you can only watch HBO and Cinemax on devices that have been updated with Hulu’s redesigned user experience. Hulu’s refreshed look accompanied the launch of its $39.99 live TV product, but it’s also the new standard for customers on the $7.99 and $11.99 (no commercials) streaming plans. Currently, the new Hulu experience is available on Android, iOS, Apple TV, and Xbox One, with more platforms due to be added over the summer. Hopefully that includes Roku.
Customers who pay for the HBO add-on will be able to sign into the HBO Now app with their Hulu account credentials. But Hulu is promising a “seamless” integration that will include the live, linear HBO and Cinemax channels, plus on-demand libraries of their respective original shows and movie collections.
More live channels will be added over the next few weeks. Those include: HBO 2, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO Comedy, HBO Signature HD, HBO Zone, MoreMAX HD, ActionMAX HD, ThrillerMAX HD, MovieMAX HD, 5StarMAX HD, and OuterMAX HD. But for now, Hulu wants to make sure you’re set for the July 16th season premiere of Game of Thrones.
If you’re keeping score, you’ve now got a slew of options for subscribing to HBO outside of a regular cable bundle. They include:
- Amazon (direct subscription)
- Android (direct subscription)
- Apple TV / iOS (direct subscription)
- DirecTV Now
- Hulu
- PlayStation Vue
- Roku (direct subscription)
- Sling TV
And I’m probably forgetting some. In April, Recode reported that Apple is aiming to package HBO, Showtime, and Starz into a single “premium TV” streaming bundle. At the time, the company hadn’t struck a deal with any of the networks — and the bundle hasn’t materialized in the months since.