HBO Go Comes To Xbox One Sling TV And What That Means For The Future of TV

You'll be able to watch the new season of Game of Thrones on your Xbox One without having to pay a cable provider thanks to a new deal between Sling TV and HBO.

The companies today announced that Sling TV, which you can download as an app for your Xbox One, will be the first live Internet TV service to offer scheduled and Video-On-Demand (VOD) content from HBO.

Sling TV and HBO didn't give an exact date, but said that the service will be ready before the season premieres of Silicon Valley and Game of Thrones on April 12.

Sling TV, which requires no contract or extra hardware installation, features channels such as ESPN and ESPN 2, as well as TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel. It's available for $20 a month, and getting the HBO content will cost you an extra $15 a month.


This is the same price it will cost you to subscribe to HBO's content through Apple TV or HBONow.com, as was first revealed at an Apple media event in March.

Basically, if all you care about is HBO, paying the $20 a month for Sling TV plus the extra $15 a month for HBO is much cheaper than cable.

Sony, by comparison, is offering PlayStation Vue television streaming service for $50 to $70 depending on the bundle, and so far none of the bundles include HBO.

For lots more on Sling TV and the way it could impact traditional cable providers, be sure to read GameSpot sister site CNET's in-depth coverage.

Our Opinion

Personally I feel this is how TV will be watched in the near future. People are not happy with cable and satellite providers and being able to watch shows from internet streamers like Sling TV and Hulu will push the consumer market to these types of companies. 

As the increase of Google Fiber across the country we will soon be seeing internet speeds that can handle the streaming demand that comes with UHD and higher resolutions. It will still be a few years before Google Fiber comes to smaller parts of the country But where I live I live just South of Releigh NC between Atlanta and Charlotte both cities receiving the Google service and it will only be a matter of time before the two cities are connected and my area gets Google Fiber.