iWorld
HBO partners Apple to launch standalone streaming service
MUMBAI: Home Box Office will launch its standalone premium streaming service called HBO Now in April, bringing the new product to audiences in time for the fifth season of Game of Thrones. HBO has joined hands with Apple, wherein for the first time an HBO subscription will be made available directly to Apple customers through HBO Now.
HBO Now provides instant access to HBO’s programming. Watch every episode of every season of the best series programming, more of the biggest and latest Hollywood hit movies, original HBO Films, groundbreaking documentaries, sports, and comedy and music specials.
Apple will give viewers the ability to enjoy HBO programming via HBO Now. Upon launch, customers can subscribe using the HBO Now app on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch or directly on Apple TV for instant access. Users can purchase HBO Now directly in-app for $14.99 a month. Upon registering, subscribers will also be able to watch at HBONow.com. HBO will offer a 30 day introductory free trial period to new HBO Now customers who sign up through Apple in April.
HBO continues to be in discussions with its existing network of distributors and new digital partners to offer HBO Now. At launch, HBO Now will be available on iOS devices and on PCs.
“HBO Now is the next phase of innovation at HBO. With this new partnership, a natural evolution for the network, we have access to millions of Apple customers who are used to getting their favorite apps immediately. Now, they can do the same with an HBO subscription,” said HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler.
“HBO Now offers a new generation of HBO fans many of the best TV programs in the world without a cable or satellite subscription. Now, with the same simplicity as buying an app, customers can subscribe to HBO Now and instantly start viewing their favorite HBO programs as they air—this is huge,” added Apple senior vice president of Internet software and services Eddy Cue.
Similar to HBO Go, HBO Now will offer more than 2,000 titles online. This includes series like Game of Thrones, True Detective, Silicon Valley, Girls, Veep andThe Leftovers, as well as classics like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, True Blood, The Wire and Deadwood.
Upcoming original programs like Westworld, the drama series starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris and Evan Rachel Wood; The Brink, the dark comedy series starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins; the new season of the Emmy-winning True Detective, with Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams; and HBO Films’ Bessie, starring Queen Latifah, will become available on HBO Now as they air on HBO.
In addition, HBO Now will showcase Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, named “best of 2014” on many critics’ lists; Vice, the Emmy-winning, cutting-edge news magazine series hosted by Shane Smith; HBO Sports documentaries, series and World Championship Boxing events; and documentary programming like Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst and the Oscar winning, Citizenfour.
iWorld
Meta signs multiyear AI deal with News Corp
Agreement worth up to $50 million annually covers WSJ, New York Post and UK titles.
MUMBAI: Meta just bought itself a front-row seat to the newsroom because when AI needs facts, even Zuckerberg is willing to pay the subscription fee. Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear artificial intelligence content licensing agreement with News Corp that could be worth up to $50 million (£39 million) a year, The Wall Street Journal reported on 25 February 2026. The deal, expected to run for at least three years, grants Meta access to News Corp’s US and UK content including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post for training AI models and powering real-time information retrieval in its products.
Australian mastheads such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun are not included. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson revealed the arrangement during a Morgan Stanley technology conference in San Francisco, describing news organisations as a vital “input company” in the AI ecosystem. “We’re essentially an input company,” he said. “The great threat in the age of AI is going to be to what you might call output companies.”
Thomson emphasised the value of reliable journalism as foundational infrastructure for AI systems, noting regular conversations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg via Whatsapp and ongoing talks with OpenAI’s Sam Altman. He added that News Corp is in “advanced stage” negotiations for additional deals, promising further announcements soon.
The agreement follows News Corp’s 2024 five-year partnership with OpenAI (reportedly worth more than $250 million) and reflects Meta’s broader push to secure content licences. The company has already confirmed deals with People Inc, USA Today, CNN and Fox News, though financial terms remain undisclosed.
Publishers remain divided, some pursue partnerships for revenue, while others litigate. News Corp subsidiaries have sued Perplexity over copyright infringement, The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, yet the same NYT struck a separate AI licensing deal with Amazon reportedly worth $20–25 million annually.
Thomson summed up the dual strategy as “woo or sue” seeking commercial agreements where possible, legal action when content is used without permission.
In an AI race where data is oxygen, Meta isn’t just training models, it’s buying the raw material for tomorrow’s answers, one headline at a time.
