HBO to Partner with Apple on New 'HBO Now' Streaming Service, Planned to Launch in Time for ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Premiere

HBO is reportedly in talks with Apple to bring Game of Thrones, along with the premium cable service's other hit shows to its new online service which will be called 'HBO Now' and is expected to cost $15 per month, according to the International Business Times.

The report claims that the new service will launch early next month in time for the start of the fifth season of Game of Thrones which is set to premiere on Sunday, April 12, 2015. HBO is talking to Apple about featuring its new direct-to-consumer streaming service, 'HBO Now,' on Apple TV as one of its launch partners. HBO currently has a streaming service called HBO Go, but a bundled TV package is required for access.

Back in October of last year, HBO Chief Richard Plepler announced that starting in 2015, HBO will be offering their on-demand service as a separate subscription unattached to the cable TV channel in the United States. At present, viewers can access the HBO Go on-demand service, but only if they also subscribe to the channel through their cable provider. According to Plepler, there are 10 million households in the United States who are now broadband only, so they felt it was time to separate HBO Go and the HBO channel. Said he then: "We will go beyond the wall and launch a stand-alone over-the-top service with the potential to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. The international revenue possibilities could be just as large if not larger (with OTT). We have huge opportunity in front of us. We will use all means at our disposal to go after it."

Once HBO Now becomes operational, viewers who pay the monthly fee will be able to get HBO content without having to pay for an entire cable package. HBO's long-standing relationship with pay-TV packages has prevented it from capturing key audiences, including younger people who may have never paid for TV service before and watch most of their entertainment online.