Items tagged with HBO
The eighth and final season of HBO's popular Game of Thrones series is nearly upon us, which means that winter is finally coming. That also means an invasion of malware. Not from HBO, mind you, but through the sometimes sordid torrent community where illegal downloads flourish. As it were, Game of Thrones is the top TV show torrent used to cover up malware, according to data by Kaspersky. Kaspersky's full report includes plenty of interesting data. To start with, it found that the total number of users who encountered malware piggybacking on TV show torrents in 2018 was 126,340. That's actually a 33 percent decrease from 2017, though still a relatively large number. Game of Thrones topped The...
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At this point, we know that Apple has been working on a streaming service for several years. It was delayed back in 2015 with reports indicating that the delay was due to negotiations for local content. The service will have original programs that Apple has made with a strict insistence on the shows refraining from sex or violence and being very family friendly. Reports indicate that the service will offer programming at no cost to Apple device owners. A new report has surfaced that claims sources familiar with Apple's plans have stated the streaming service will launch in April, with early May as another possibility. The sources also claim that Netflix and its top-rated original programming...
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Netflix might be the king of streaming, but what some might find surprising is which services the company views as its biggest business threat. Rather than name another streaming media service, Netflix said it primarily competes with Fortnite for screen time, and loses. How's that for being frank? "We compete with (and lost to Fortnite) more than HBO," Netflix stated in a letter to shareholders. "There are thousands of competitors in this highly fragmented market vying to entertain consumers... Our growth is based on how good our experience is, compared to all the other screen time experiences from which consumers choose." Netflix said it currently earns around 10 percent of television screen...
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Several years ago, HBO took the news in stride that its hugely popular Game of Thrones had broken a BitTorrent piracy record. HBO's programming president took it as a "compliment of sorts," further noting that the "demand is there" and that record breaking piracy numbers "certainly didn't impact the DVD sales." It was a refreshing viewpoint for an executive to take, but now more than four years later, HBO is growing tired of the rampant piracy. So much, in fact, that it is putting pirates on notice. HBO is now actively monitoring torrent activity and sending out warning letters to Internet service providers (ISPs) whose subscribers are using their connections to illegally download Game of Thrones,...
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AT&T is currently pretty far along in the process of acquiring Time Warner, which gives it access to popular brands including HBO and CNN. Even though the merger has yet to complete, AT&T is already spreading the wealth to customers that sign up for its best unlimited data plan. New customers to AT&T Unlimited Plus (or already ready on the service) will now automatically receive HBO for free. AT&T says that there are currently three ways for you to receive HBO. If you currently pay for HBO via DirecTV Now, DirecTV or U-Verse TV, that additional monthly charge will simply go away. Likewise, if you currently subscribe to one of the above video services, but don’t have HBO, you will...
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With every passing day, more people are looking to the cut the cord with their cable and satellite TV providers in favor of streaming solutions. This has led to some intense competition among streaming set-top box and dongle providers, along with standalone services such as Netflix and Hulu. To make its own set-top box more competitive, Apple is trying to strike a deal with HBO, Showtime, and Starz to be able and package all three channels in a single bundle.Apple also wants to be able to offer the bundle as a standalone package through Apple TV. That would be a deviation from how things operate in the pay-TV world, where cable and satellite providers require that customers subscribe to a basic...
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Are you dying to dive into the drama of Westeros or find a new favorite movie? Well, Amazon has a deal for you! Amazon Prime customers can now add HBO and Cinemax packages to their streaming video service. Sofia Chang, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Digital Distribution and Home Entertainment, HBO, remarked, “For years now, Amazon has demonstrated an incomparable capability for bringing customers exactly what they want, in all the ways they want it. We have a very successful partnership with this great company that continues to evolve. We share the goal of providing Amazon customers more ways to access all of the high-quality HBO and Cinemax programming they’ve been asking for.” The...
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T-Mobile has really been knocking it out of the park this year, and it's reaping great rewards for the company. This past fall, the company leapfrogged Sprint to become the third-largest US wireless carrier, and given the company's momentum, things are only going to improve. While it's hard to argue that T-Mo's network isn't as wide-reaching as AT&T's and Verizon's, the company is sure doing everything it can to help smooth that over until the situation improves. Networks aside, T-Mobile seems to be the most "fun" of all the major carriers, thanks to the company's outspoken and hilarious CEO, John Legere. Earlier this week, we saw him troll Verizon's headquarters with a skywriting message,...
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Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick have gotten a whole lot more interesting in just the past week. Both streaming devices, which first and foremost are a showcase for Amazon’s Instant Video platform, are worthy competitors to the likes of the Roku 3, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast. Speaking of that last competitor, an $8 app popped up in the Amazon Appstore that effectively turns both the Fire TV and Fire TV stick into a Chromecast device. Today, however, Amazon’s streaming devices are getting some assistance from a more “legitimate” source: HBO. The standalone HBO Now service, which last month arrived on Amazon’s Fire tablets (Apple had a brief exclusivity window before the service landed on...
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HBO's wildly popular Game of Thrones just recently concluded its fifth season, which ranks as the most popular in the series to date in terms of viewership, both through official channels and via piracy. Speaking of the latter, the season finale set a new record in piracy with 1.5 million downloads in just eight hours. That number is expected to balloon to 10 million in the coming days. It's not really a surprise that the finale of attracted so many illegal downloads -- while this represents more than any previous seasons, breaking unsavory records like this one is nothing unusual when it comes to Game of Thrones. The series has built up a rabid fan base in its five seasons, and piracy is something...
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Rather than the fight the movement towards streaming content, Cablevision has instead opted to help TV viewers cut the cord. How so? Cablevision was the first pay-TV provider to offer HBO Now to its broadband customers, and now the Internet Service Provider is offering a couple of Internet-focused Optimum product offerings, including a special "Cord Cutter" package that comes with a complimentary digital antenna for local channels. The Cord Cutter package starts at $44.90 per month (for the first year) and includes the company's Optimum Online Ultra 50 Internet service (up to 50Mbps for downloads and up to 25Mbps for uploads), unlimited Wi-Fi at 1.1 million Optimum hotspots, and a free Mohu Leaf...
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As most subscribers will attest, the HBO Now app is pretty awesome. It's easy to use, isn't saddled with bugs, and offers access to all of HBO's content, including Game of Thrones. However, only paying customers living in the U.S. are eligible to play. Some people in other countries have found ways around the territorial restriction by way of using a VPN (Virtual Private Network), but HBO is savvy to the situation and is attempting to crack down on the practice. Not to be confused with HBO Go, a complimentary add-on to HBO cable and satellite subscribers, HBO Now became a standalone app earlier this year. That open the floodgates for ineligible subscribers living outside the U.S....
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HBO has in the past taken a rather nonchalant approach to piracy, even at times taking the surprisingly refreshing viewpoint that millions of illegal downloads can be viewed as a "compliment of sorts" and that it comes with the territory of "having a wildly successful show on a subscription network." The thing is, if you poke the bear too many times, it's going to react, so nobody should be shocked that HBO is sending out DMCA notices to Game of Thrones pirates. On the surface, it appears HBO is fed up with all the illegal downloads. Season 5 of Game of Thrones saw its first episode downloaded more than 100,000 times in just three hours, which ballooned to over a million within 18 hours....
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Sling TV is certainly emerging as a disruptive force, and if you're looking for just one more reason to cut the cord with your cable or satellite TV provider, the addition of HBO might be the nudge you need. The streaming live TV provider added HBO to its programming lineup today, making it the only live Internet TV service to offer the HBO's content on both a linear and Video-On-Demand (VOD) basis, the company said. Adding HBO to Sling TV's service costs an additional $15 per month over the $20/month core package. So for $35 per month, you can have access to ESPN, ESPN2, AMC, A&E, TNT, History, H2, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, IFC, El Rey, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, ABC Family,...
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