HBO on Friday said it will be shutting down its HBO Go streaming app in July, following the recent launch of HBO Max, its new linchpin streaming service.
“Now that HBO Max has launched and is widely distributed, we can implement some significant changes to our app offering in the U.S. As part of that plan, we will be sunsetting our HBO GO service in the U.S. We intend to remove the HBO GO app from primary platforms as of July 31, 2020,” WarnerMedia, HBO’s parent company, said in a statement.
HBO Go launched 10 years ago as a way for current HBO subscribers to stream their favorite shows. HBO later rolled out HBO Now, a standalone streaming service for people without cable or satellite, in in 2015. HBO Now will now be rebranded as HBO moving forward, following WarnerMedia’s Friday announcement.
“Most customers who have traditionally used HBO GO to stream HBO programming are now able to do so via HBO Max, which offers access to all of HBO together with so much more,” WarnerMedia added. “Additionally, the HBO NOW app and desktop experience will be rebranded to HBO. Existing HBO NOW subscribers will have access to HBO through the rebranded HBO app on platforms where it remains available and through play.hbo.com. HBO Max provides not only the robust offering of HBO but also a vast WarnerMedia library and acquired content and originals through a modern product.”
HBO Max launched last month with twice as much content as HBO’s other streaming services — including the return of “Friends,” which had left Netflix at the end of 2019, and the streaming debut of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” among other shows.
HBO worked to make it fairly easy for HBO Now and HBO Go subscribers to switch over to HBO Max by letting them use the same login info they already had, but many customers were still confused by the array of HBO streaming options. (Even John Oliver mocked HBO’s streaming strategy a few days after HBO Max launched.) With HBO Go going away, it should help things out a bit.