HBO Offering Multiple Movies, Original Series, And More, For Free
HBO wants you to stay the hell home during the coronavirus, and to better encourage you to do so, they're offering a whole bunch of stuff for free. Nine full original series, 10 documentaries and docuseries, and 20 Warner Bros. theatrical films will all be available to stream on HBO for free – as in, you don't need an HBO subscription to watch them. Plus: Amazon is breaking with tradition, and making in-app purchases, including renting and buying films and TV shows, possible.
Hey, have you always wanted to catch up on HBO originals, but haven't wanted to sign up for an HBO subscription? Well, your time is now. Starting this Friday, April 3, HBO is launching something they call the #StayHomeBoxOffice, which will make a plethora of content available for free – no HBO subscription required. Here's what you get:
9 Full Series
Ballers (5 Seasons)
Barry (2 Seasons)
Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
Succession (2 Seasons)
True Blood (7 Seasons
Veep (7 Seasons)
The Wire (5 Seasons)
10 Docuseries and Documentaries
The Apollo
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
McMillion$
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality
United Skates
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest
20 Warner Bros. Theatricals
Arthur
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
Blinded By the Light
The Bridges of Madison County
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Empire of the Sun
Forget Paris
Happy Feet Two
Isn't It Romantic?
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Midnight Special
My Dog Skip
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase
Pan
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Red Riding Hood
Smallfoot
Storks
Sucker Punch
Unknown
The programming will be available to stream without a subscription starting Friday by downloading the HBO NOW or HBO GO apps or by visiting HBONOW.com or HBOGO.com. The content will also be made available for free via participating distribution partners' platforms in the coming days.
Meanwhile, in news that doesn't involve free stuff, but is still pretty cool, Amazon is changing things up regarding their in-app purchases. In the old, pre-coronavirus days, Amazon would not allower users to rent or buy content on the Prime Video app. Instead, you had to use a web browser. Now, Amazon has reversed course, and is allowing in-app purchases on Apple products. Before, Amazon was against this because it required paying a fee to Apple. But Apple has set up a program for the time being:
Apple says it has had an "established" program for "premium" video apps subscriptions, now including Amazon Prime, to let them use their own payment methods instead of in-app-purchase, which gives Apple a 30% cut. This program has been in use already with Altice One and Canal+
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) April 1, 2020
There's no word on how long this will be in place, but you should probably take advantage of it now.