Last week at the inaugural Buzzfeed Brews event in New York, BuzzFeed Business Editor Peter Lauria interviewed HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler about “about the future of the industry, changes at Time Warner, and digital and streaming video’s encroachment on cable TV.”
At the event, Plepler also announced that HBO and PlayStation have partnered to offer HBO GO on PlayStation 3, with PlayStation 4 soon to follow. This is a big addition to PlayStation’s app offerings, and it will certainly help bolster HBO GO’s growing streaming numbers.
In a blog post about the partnership, Sony’s Senior Vice President, Business Development, Phil Rosenberg wrote:
With the HBO GO app on your PlayStation system and an HBO subscription via your cable or satellite provider, you’ll have unlimited, on-demand access to your favorite HBO shows, like Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and True Detective. HBO GO offers every episode of every season of the network’s best shows. You can also enjoy hit movies, sports, documentaries, and comedy specials, as well as special behind-the-scenes extras.
As a huge Game of Thrones fan, I can’t wait to watch the show using my PS3. Speaking of which, click here to watch the season 4 trailer that premiered earlier this week, in case you missed it.
For those looking to convert TVs into smart TVs, PlayStation and Xbox have become viable options and have the added benefit of being gaming consoles. While Roku still offers the most options as a cable alternative, PlayStation and Xbox will continue to put pressure on set-top and streaming hardware manufacturers as Sony and Microsoft form new content partnerships.