Time Warner Cable offers cheaper HBO cable package to counter Comcast

Time Warner Cable is making it a bit less expensive for new subscribers to sign up for HBO. As spotted by Variety, TWC is now advertising a promotional package called “Starter TV with HBO” that costs $29.99 per month for the first year, not including the price of a cable box. Though the package is basic — TWC only says that it includes “20+ channels” — it’s one of the cheapest ways to get HBO around, short of borrowing a friend’s HBO Go account. Outside of this new package, TWC appears to primarily offer HBO subscriptions as a $15.95 plan add-on or as part of much more expensive bundles.

While HBO has been seeing soaring popularity thanks to series like Game of Thrones, TWC’s new package appears to be prompted more by a recent offering by Comcast than by customer demand alone. In October, Comcast began offering a package that began as low as $39.99 and included 45 TV channels, an HBO subscription, and a 25 Mbps internet connection. Comcast’s package still looks to be a far better deal — as TWC’s doesn’t include an internet option — but as we found out, getting HBO and internet together for a good price isn’t easy. It may still be some time before you can purchase a standalone HBO Go subscription, but it’s slowly getting less expensive to get HBO at all — at least for one year of service.