HBO’s standalone service has a name and possible launch date

By Sean O'Neal | March 4, 2015 | 11:03pm

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Last year, HBO’s announcement that it was planning to offer a standalone streaming service caused a stir among those who have long hoped to be rid of their cable package, were not streaming the shows they want on some other service such as Amazon Prime, weren’t already taking up the company’s CEO on his invitation to just use a friend’s HBO Go password, or weren’t familiar with torrents. Those remaining few will be similarly excited to learn that HBO’s concept has a name, plus a tentative launch date and price—all of which suggest it’s very close to being a reality, and they won’t ever have to look into those other things.

According to the International Business Times, HBO’s new standalone service will be called HBO Now, as in “Now You Don’t Have To Buy Cable To Watch All Of Arli$$, Right Now.” (This differs from its current, cable-bundled streaming service, HBO GO, as in “Comcast Can HBO Go Fuck Itself.”) Though there’s nothing in the way of an official announcement, HBO Now has a tentative release date in April, coinciding with the premiere of the fifth season of Game Of Thrones, and the annual rush to illegally download Game Of Thrones by non-cable subscribers. It’s hoped that the modest price—$15 per month, paid directly to HBO—might deter that a little bit, but most importantly, it may help the network reach the millions who subscribe to neither HBO nor cable to give it a shot.