Hulu’s new $5 HBO offer
Image courtesy of HBO
If you were looking for a way to watch Westworld without cable just in time for season two, Hulu might be your answer. Westworld is one of HBO’s breakout new series and drove over 2.2 million viewers to the channel for the season one finale last year. HBO really wants you to watch the new season to keep that viewer count up and Hulu’s discounted rate proves it. Hulu’s discount offer now makes it the cheapest way to watch HBO without cable, even if you don’t already have a Hulu subscription.
Do I need to be a subscriber?
In order to watch HBO on Hulu, you do need a subscription. However, you can take advantage of the discounted HBO price even if you only get (or already have) Hulu’s basic plan. If you subscribe to the basic plan for only $7.99 a month and add HBO for $5, you’re still paying less than HBO’s typical $15 a month price. We wrote a full article about how to watch HBO without cable and recently had to edit it because Hulu’s new offer is now the cheapest option.
Not only will you get access to Westworld, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, and all of the other HBO favorites, you also get a Hulu subscription that’s basically free. Hulu’s basic plan will let you watch Hulu’s massive on-demand streaming library that contains thousands of older content and adds new episodes daily. Hulu typically adds new episodes for content is supports the day after it airs, making it a perfect option for people who find themselves recording cable anyway.
Hulu is a non-contract streaming service and is one of the most popular alongside Netflix. If you’ve been using your friend’s or your friend’s friend’s friend’s account previously, the new HBO offer might be a good time to get your own. If you’re not familiar with the service, they also offer a free trial that will let you see the content the offer for yourself.
How long does the offer last?
Once you add HBO for the $5 promo rate you’ll be locked into that price for 6 months. After that, the price will revert to $14.99 per month unless you cancel it. If you already have a Hulu subscription, or you find yourself using the on-demand library a lot, $14.99 is the going-rate for HBO anyway. For comparison, the following outlines the cost for HBO through other services:
- On DirecTV Now: $5 per month
- With Amazon Prime: $12.99 per month
- Through Amazon, Without Prime: $14.99 per month
- On Sling TV: $15 per month
- On PlayStation Vue: $15 per month
DirecTV Now and Amazon are the outliers, but both base services cost more than Hulu.
Hulu’s other packages
If commercials aren’t your thing, you can completely do away with them for only $4 a month. Hulu’s second tiered plan is their Commercial-less offer and costs $11.99 a month. You’ll get full access to the on-demand library, but won’t have to sit through 9+ ads each time you watch a show. If you’re familiar with binge-watching content on Netflix and try to do the same with the basic Hulu plan, you’re going to be disappointed. There’s a stark difference between commercial-less viewing and ad-riddled content, particularly if you’ve experienced the former for yourself.
If you’re looking to continue to get live cable channels and are thinking of cutting the cord, Hulu also offers an upgraded package that includes live TV. This package is appropriately named “Hulu with Live TV” and costs $39.99. It comes with a variety of the most popular cable TV channels and boasts one of the highest numbers of local channels in the industry. If you’re household watches a lot of ABC, FOX, or NBC, Hulu is most likely to serve your area. The image below shows the currently available channel line up for our Boston office.
Make sure to check their offerings for yourself for your location to confirm that you will actually get all of the channels you expect.