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HBO
HBO Now gives you the premium cable network’s shows without a pay-TV subscription. Soon, you can get it without an iPhone.
HBO Now, the network’s purely online TV service, will be available on Google devices like Chromecast and Android gadgets. Rival Apple currently has an exclusive on HBO Now, meaning no other digital media distributors can support the app until early July.
Sundar Pichai, head of Google’s products like Android and Chrome, announced the app’s availability at a keynote presentation at Google’s annual conference for software developers, I/O.
Google has increasingly expanded the scope of its products beyond its market-dominating search engine. Its Android operating system is the most common on mobile devices globally, and its $35 thumb-size Chromecast is a blockbuster, plugging in to the back of TVs to connect them to the Internet.
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When HBO Now launches on Android and Chromecast, it will immediately become available to the masses. Apple’s exclusive meant that only people who own iPhones, iPads or Apple TVs could sign up for the long awaited service. (People in the New York metro area who are Internet-service customers of cable company Cablevision could also sign up.)
This is a developing story. Follow CNET’s Google live blog and see all of today’s Google news.
