HBO Finally Gets Around To Replying To Consumers Who Said They’d Pay For HBO Go…. Three Years Ago

Apple CEO Tim Cook presents HBO Now at today's press conference to launch the Apple Watch. (Photo: Glenn Derene/Consumer Reports)

Apple CEO Tim Cook presents HBO Now at today’s press conference to launch the Apple Watch. (Photo: Glenn Derene/Consumer Reports)

With the launch of standalone streaming service HBO Now just around the corner, it appears the premium cable channel is attempting to drum up sales by going back in time and replying to Tweets from three years ago.

Business Insider reports that HBO’s Twitter team has been slyly replying to Tweets from as far back as 2012 asking consumers to follow them so the company can provide more information on the soon-to-launch $15/month subscription-based HBO Now.

HBO’s 15 or so replies have all been made to Tweets in which consumers expressed their desire to pay a fee for access to the company’s HBO Go service. That product offers online access to HBO programs, but is only available to consumers who actually subscribe to HBO through their cable provider.

In addition to asking for follows so it can provide direct messages to consumers, HBO’s Tweets also include clips of HBO Shows that now have HBO Now branding superimposed on them.

When the original Tweeter replies to HBO, the company has been sending additional photo replies.

HBO Now is expected to launch in time for the April 12 premier of Game of Thrones. Subscriptions will be sold, at least initially, on a national basis through Apple’s iTunes store. Consumers in areas serviced by Cablevision will have the option of subscribing without having to get a pay-TV package, though price and launch date have not been announced. The Sling TV streaming service will soon provide access to live streams of HBO and on-demand service for $15/month, but you must also be a subscriber to the $20/month core Sling package, so — contrary to numerous reports — this is not the same as HBO Now.

HBO is tweeting at people who three years ago said they’d pay for a subscription [Business Insider]

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