HBO to Drop Support for Apple TV 2 & 3
HBO today announced that its HBO GO and HBO NOW streaming services will no longer be available on second-generation and third-generation Apple TV models starting April 30, 2020.
Since iOS 13, the Remote app has been unreliable with my Apple TV 3. It gets stuck in different modes, and sometimes the keyboard won’t come up or won’t dismiss. I guess the writing is on the wall for my Apple TV. I want a working Remote app, AirPlay, etc., but this doesn’t seem like a good time to buy a nearly three-year-old Apple TV 4K. Or the even older Apple TV 4 for $150.
Previously:
- Apple TV App for Amazon Fire TV
- Two-factor Authentication for Old Apple TVs
- Apple TV 4K, Still a Hobby
Update (2020-04-10): Mitchel Broussard:
The company has now extended this deadline, and will remove HBO NOW from these platforms on May 15, 2020 and HBO GO will remain available for “a few additional months.”
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
I held off getting an Apple TV since Apple Arcade was launched and it seemed logical for Apple to launch a new model with more capable processor/graphics. One of the use cases was to show my elderly dad (with poor eyesight) iPhone photos on the big screen - but now he's had to go into a care home so a Roku or Fire TV will suffice as current Apple TV's are dated, expensive and come with a poorly designed remote.
@stu
It's crazy, but I swear my Roku 3 from seven years ago still largely supports the current channel offerings on the Roku store. I compared it to my 4K model from 2 years ago and both Rokus seem similar as far as content.
In comparison, my first gen Apple TV was only useful because I could root it and install XBMC. Second gen was similarly barely useful unless you
A. Used AirPlay for most things
or
B. rooted and install XBMC/Kodi. I did not go past the second gen because I simply felt the product was not a very good one. Unfoertunately.
or
C. I suppose you could have only used the like four apps that came on it.
On that last bit, I kid, but not by much, the first three generations of Apple TV were so incredibly not useful as they did not contain a robust ecosystem. Starting with the fourth generation, seems like the ecosystem perked up, but the models are too expensive (in my opinion) and the remote kind of stinks. Oh well. Baby steps I guess.
This sort of obsolescence is why I went with just plain "TV."