# HBONOW on Fire TV



## Sandpiper

I've been waitin' for it.  Tonight HBONOW was advertised on Dancing With the Stars.  I went to the web site.  It will start in April on Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone.  Not on Fire TV?  I called Amazon.  First three months of HBONOW will be on Apple products exclusively . . . then available on Fire TV.     I've never had and don't want cable or satellite.  

P.S. $14.99 per month to HBO.


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## mlewis78

The price is almost as much as I would have to pay Time Warner to have HBO on my TV.  I think it is $16.95 (plus tax).  I am in my 2nd month of free HBO with Time Warner and it ends before April.  I don't watch very often.  I'd already seen a lot of the movies that have been on in Feb. and March.  I've used it mainly for John Oliver and Real Time, but I have Real Time audio for free through itunes.


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## CegAbq

I'll be checking on this.

But I have to confess that HBO is not the only reason I've got my cable company extras subscription.
I do rabidly follow several show son Showtime & STARZ (of course *Outlander* is one of those).
And I'm enjoying some of the sports events that I wouldn't get on regular TV. I think so far, having the cable subscription still works out financially for me.

So I'll really be watching the ad-hoc offerings that evolve over the next many months to see whether I could 'cut-the-cord' realistically.


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## VondaZ

CegAbq said:


> But I have to confess that HBO is not the only reason I've got my cable company extras subscription.
> I do rabidly follow several show son Showtime & STARZ (of course *Outlander* is one of those).
> And I'm enjoying some of the sports events that I wouldn't get on regular TV. I think so far, having the cable subscription still works out financially for me.


Things are changing pretty quickly, though, so you may want to re-evaluate this as time goes by. We cut the cord this year and I haven't looked back. It has actually been completely painless. We will subscribe to HBONow for Game of Thrones season only. It will be cheaper on HBONow than HBO was via our cable.

Showtime has announced plans to release their own streaming service soon (http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/leslie-moonves-showtime-ott-service-coming-in-not-too-distant-future-1201450444/). Starz is coming out with a service abroad, but its President is talking favorably about doing the same in the US, and likely will if both HBO and Showtime do (http://www.thevideoink.com/news/9-tv-networks-entertaining-going-top/#.VQxUS34o6Ul). However, if you don't watch a lot of shows from these networks and you don't mind being a season behind, you can also opt to just buy season passes for those shows you do watch from Amazon Instant (and then you have access to that content for as long as you have your Amazon account). I do this for Penny Dreadful, which is currently the only Showtime show I watch and I don't mind being a season behind.

Sports has traditionally been the drawback to cord cutting, but that is changing now too. SlingTV offers ESPN, TNT, TBS, and TruTV (via an add-on package), which means you can watch the entire NCAA tournament with just local networks and SlingTV. There is no commitment, so you can just sign up for the months that the sports you want airs. MLB is supposedly in talks to remove blackout restrictions on local games so that you can sign up for MLB.tv and get all your local team's games that way. If they succeed, other sports will likely follow (http://www.cordcuttersnews.com/major-league-baseball-in-talks-to-remove-regional-blackouts-from-mlb-tv/). ESPN has been testing streaming services by creating such a service for Cricket. If that works well for them, they will likely expand it to other sports.

We have an antenna with DVR for all our local networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW, FOX, plus other networks like MeTV and such). That costs nothing but the hardware. We have Amazon Prime for Prime Instant Video (we've always had that) and I buy a few season passes for certain cable shows I want to watch that aren't on Prime. I sometimes turn down 2-day shipping to get $1 video credit, which goes toward the season passes that I buy. We currently have SlingTV on the special promo deal with the FireTV, so we are trying it for $10 for 3 months. After the 3 months, we will cancel, but may pick it up again during football season.

If you want everything, then cable will remain the best option, as you can only buy so many services before you reach the equivalent cable bill. But if cable provides you with way more than you use, then you can trim down your bill by cutting the cord and just subscribing to what you actually want.


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## CegAbq

Oh, I do realize things are changing and will definitely keep considering whether to cut the cord or not. 
(I've started following pro-basketball & am dismayed that a full season 'League Pass' is $199 to watch on tv/computer/phone/tablet & $129 to watch on computer/phone/tablet.)


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## Sandpiper

I signed up for HBO now. First few months it is exclusive with Apple. Then will move onto other platforms -- Fire TV. I got the HBONOW app via my iPhone 6 Plus. After first free trial month, monthly payment is in-app subscription so payment in my case is collected by Apple. Then you register on HBONOW. So when it is available on Fire TV, sign in there.

Never having had cable or satellite, I'm excited seeing all the HBO TV series and movies I've rarely had access to. Only thing . . . when I first heard about it, I swear ad said paraphrased, "all HBO available *all the time*." Well, I've seen expiry dates.  A little  I let HBO know.

So for now I'm watching HBO on my 15" laptop. Likin' it.


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## MichelleB675

I signed up for the trial on my iPod touch. We'll be watching GoT tonight, woohoo, no more being a year behind! I would prefer watching it on my tv, but watching on pc is better than not at all


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## Sandpiper

MichelleB675 said:


> I signed up for the trial on my iPod touch. We'll be watching GoT tonight, woohoo, no more being a year behind! I would prefer watching it on my tv, but watching on pc is better than not at all


The $14.99 was deducted from my iTunes account balance yesterday. They charge tax?? Total deducted was $15.93.


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## MichelleB675

I have a $15 balance. so the tax will have to come from Paypal. I think I still have a few days left on my trial.


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## MichelleB675

My total was $15.89.


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## Sandpiper

In the past, I've kept a balance in my iTunes account.  Plan to keep enough in it to cover the monthly HBONOW deduction.  You can't "buy" an iTunes card from Apple on-line.  Have to buy a GC in a B&M store and apply it to an account.


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## MichelleB675

I think Game of Thrones ends before my next payment is due, so I'll probably let it lapse until next year. by then hopefully it will be on Fire TV and I can use my Amazon gift card balance to pay for it and watch on my tv.


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## Sandpiper

MichelleB675 said:


> I think Game of Thrones ends before my next payment is due, so I'll probably let it lapse until next year. by then hopefully it will be on Fire TV and I can use my Amazon gift card balance to pay for it and watch on my tv.


By "let it lapse" do you mean de-register? If you do nothing, Apple will continue to deduct the monthly $14.99 from your iTunes account or charge Paypal / the credit card attached to it. When HBONOW is available on Fire TV, you simply sign in on the app there. Apple will still collect the monthly $14.99 plus tax.


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## MichelleB675

You can turn off the auto renew and it won't charge you again. I'm not sure what happens when you turn it back on. I'll cross the bridge when I come to it. I'm hoping that when FireTV gets the service, the app will let me log in with my existing account and choose to pay through Amazon, if not then I can pick up iTunes gift cards to cover the cost and still sign in through FireTV to watch. or if that won't work, I'll just sign up for a new account through the Amazon version of the app when the time comes.


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## Sandpiper

MichelleB675 said:


> You can turn off the auto renew and it won't charge you again. I'm not sure what happens when you turn it back on. I'll cross the bridge when I come to it. I'm hoping that when FireTV gets the service, the app will let me log in with my existing account and choose to pay through Amazon, if not then I can pick up iTunes gift cards to cover the cost and still sign in through FireTV to watch. or if that won't work, I'll just sign up for a new account through the Amazon version of the app when the time comes.


I'm quite certain (but not absolutely positive) even when you use the HBONOW app in the future on Fire TV, monthly charge will still be collected by Apple. That's what I'm expecting. I do keep a balance in my iTunes account by buying iTunes GCs.


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## CegAbq

I know this will be a bit off-topic - but I have decided to abandon Game of Thrones ... there is never any happiness or success ... I'm not at all opposed to stories with war / maiming / destruction / etc ... but sometimes there should be something happy .. and sometimes someone good should "win" ... none of this ever happens in GOT


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## Ann in Arlington

CegAbq said:


> I know this will be a bit off-topic - but I have decided to abandon Game of Thrones ... there is never any happiness or success ... I'm not at all opposed to stories with war / maiming / destruction / etc ... but sometimes there should be something happy .. and sometimes someone good should "win" ... none of this ever happens in GOT


I figured that out after reading the first book and never bothered with the TV show . . . . . not my thing at all.

Never watched _Under the Dome_ either -- 'cause I couldn't get through the book for all the unsympathetic characters.


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## Sandpiper

Commercial on TV tonight (60 Minutes) -- HBONOW coming soon to Amazon Fire TV.  I called HBONOW.  Can't tell me how far in the future soon is.    It is available now on later Fire tablets.


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## Sandpiper

HBONOW still isn't available on Fire TV.    I called Fire TV CS yesterday.  Still no definite date for it.  But CS rep told me about mirroring tablet on my TV.  I guess I'd heard something about mirroring in the past, but didn't pay attention.  So until HBONOW app is on Fire TV, mirroring works.


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## VondaZ

It sounds like it is available on Fire TV now.

http://cordcuttersnews.com/hbo-now-comes-to-fire-tv/


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## Sandpiper

*HALLELUJAH !!!*

I guess the next time I turned on my Fire TV I would have seen the app FRONT AND CENTER. When I talked to Fire TV CS rep just yesterday, he said he didn't know when.

Thank you, *VondaZ*.


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## Betsy the Quilter

VondaZ said:


> It sounds like it is available on Fire TV now.
> 
> http://cordcuttersnews.com/hbo-now-comes-to-fire-tv/


I saw this on my FireTV. The HBOGO app had been missing for awhile, I guess while all the details had been worked out.

I've been catching up on Project Greenlight--and I started to watch it on FireTV when I saw the app there; then I remembered that I could watch it on my regular TV with HBO ON DEMAND that comes with my service. LOL!


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## Sandpiper

HBONOW and HBOGO are not the same thing.  HBONOW is for viewers who don't subscribe to cable.  HBOGO is for those who do.


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## Betsy the Quilter

Sandpiper said:


> HBONOW and HBOGO are not the same thing. HBONOW is for viewers who don't subscribe to cable. HBOGO is for those who do.


Yes, I know that. Sorry for the confusion. I was just saying that I had not been able to get the HBOGO app on my Fire TV stick earlier in the year, about the time that HBONOW was announced. I figured that a new deal was being negotiated with Amazon over both apps. Because of this conversation, I went onto my FireTV stick yesterday to check on the HBOGO app and it was available for download again. (Grant you, I hadn't checked in awhile because I didn't need it--I wasn't traveling.) Maybe it was just me and others could access it. Didn't mean to derail the conversation.

Betsy


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