Technology

Dish’s Internet TV, Sling, gets HBO service for $15 a month

By TALI ARBEL AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — HBO lovers have one more way to watch “Game of Thrones.” If you subscribe to Dish’s $20...

The Associated Press

April 4, 2015 2:10 am

2 min read

By TALI ARBEL
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — HBO lovers have one more way to watch “Game of Thrones.”

If you subscribe to Dish’s $20-a-month Internet TV service, Sling TV, you can order HBO for an extra $15 each month.

That’s the same price as the new HBO Now Internet service. For the moment, you can order HBO Now on Apple devices and through New York-area cable company Cablevision.

The number of people who pay cable companies, satellite TV companies and telecommunications companies for TV access — the traditional pay-TV system — has been slowly dropping as online video alternatives such as Netflix become more popular. Dish, for example, lost 79,000 satellite TV subscribers last year, ending with nearly 14 million.

Sling TV is Dish Network Corp.’s attempt to attract the estimated 10 million households who pay only for Internet and not for cable. It was released in February.

Other companies also want to reach that demographic. Sony has an Internet TV service that comes through the PlayStation console, which launched in March, and Apple is reportedly working on one as well.

Dish and Time Warner Inc. said Tuesday that the HBO service over Sling TV will include the live HBO channel as well as on-demand TV shows and movies.

Dish says the same library of shows, movies, and comedy and music specials that pay-TV subscribers can find on the HBO Go app will be available for Sling TV’s HBO subscribers. That means you can watch as many “Sex and the City” episodes as you want in one sitting or watch the latest “Game of Thrones” episode later in the week if you missed it on Sunday night.

HBO on Sling TV is supposed to start in time for the season premiere of “Game of Thrones” on April 12, but there’s no specific launch date yet.

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