HBO On Sling TV: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 5 Premiere Comes To Dish Network’s Over-The-Top Service

The good news for cord-cutters just keeps on coming. Sling TV, the over-the-top television service from Dish Network Corp., will offer HBO in time for the “Game of Thrones” and “Silicon Valley” season premieres on April 12, a Sling TV spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. The deal makes Sling TV the first live Web-TV service to offer HBO’s premium content, the companies said.

Dish Network launched Sling TV in January with a core package of 12 cable channels, and has been aggressively adding new content since. Starting this month, subscribers who sign up for the $20-a-month core package will be able to pay an additional $15 a month for HBO, which will include a live stream of the channel as well access to HBO’s on-demand library.

“It is has always been our desire to make the HBO subscription widely accessible,” Tom Woodbury, the Time Warner-owned channel’s president of global distribution, said in a statement. “Sling TV is a part of that ongoing evolution, and we believe HBO is a great addition to the platform.”

The announcement comes as HBO is readying the launch of its standalone streaming service HBO Now. As International Business Times first reported in March, Apple Inc. reached an agreement with HBO to be the exclusive launch partner for HBO Now, which allows viewers to subscribe to HBO without a pay-TV subscription for the first time in history.

Apple’s exclusive rights last for three months, but don’t cover traditional pay-TV operators like Dish Network. Although Dish is not currently offering HBO Now, Apple’s exclusivity is starting to feel a little less exclusive.

HBO will be available on all devices that Sling TV supports: Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, current-generation Roku players and Roku TV models, Xbox One, Android and iOS devices, and Mac and PC computers. Sling TV said Wednesday it expects to announce an official launch date soon.

Christopher Zara is a senior writer who covers media and culture. News tips? Email me here. Follow me on Twitter @christopherzara.