HBO is the latest addition to Apple’s new TV app, and it comes with a couple of handy extra features, including a weeklong free trial and support for offline viewing.
HBO has joined the Apple TV Channels program, 9to5Mac reports, and costs $15, the same price that you’d pay for an HBO Now subscription or HBO access through services like Sling TV or Hulu.
In case you need a reminder, Apple TV Channels is different from Apple TV, which is a piece of hardware, or Apple TV Plus, Apple’s upcoming Netflix competitor. The Apple TV Channels program is part of Apple’s revamped television app, and allows customers to subscribe to individual channels for extra fees.
When you’re watching HBO through the Apple TV app, you’ll be able to take advantage of all of the app’s features. That means that you’ll be able to share your HBO subscription across six individual devices and download HBO content to your mobile device so that you can watch it offline, which is something that the standard HBO Now app doesn’t allow.
If you’re an existing HBO Now subscriber, you won’t be able to merge your account with Apple’s service, meaning that the only way to use the Apple TV Channels version of the premium network is to cancel your existing subscription and sign up again through the Apple TV app (or have two subscriptions running simultaneously).
On the plus side, Apple TV Channels is offering a one-week free trial for new HBO subscribers, so you’ll be able to watch next week’s episode of Game of Thrones, which will deal with the fallout from the game-changing Battle of Winterfell, free of charge.
The new Apple TV app is currently in beta, and can be downloaded by anyone who wants to install beta versions of iOS or tvOS on their Apple devices. Keep in mind, however, that beta software is often buggy and unstable, and we recommend against installing beta operating systems on your primary phones or tablets.
The new Apple TV app is expected to exit beta testing later this month, and will make its way to non-Apple devices like Samsung Smart TVs, Roku and Amazon Fire TV streaming boxes, and other pieces of hardware at a later date.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.