Apple TV Just Got a Lot Better: Now With HBO GO and ESPN Streaming Support

If you own an Apple TV and have been hankering to get your favorite HBO shows or live sports onto your big screen, you're in luck. Apple has finally teamed up with ESPN and HBO to bring their content, along with a few other digital offerings, to your Apple TV.

Apple announced Wednesday that Apple TV users will now be able to stream HBO GO and WatchESPN, an ESPN streaming app, directly to the Apple TV. The Cupertino giant's set top box now finally joins myriad other devices, both mobile and connected to televisions, that offer these services already. Apple also announced that in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland, Apple TV will also be offering the 24/7 news channel and news archive of the Sky News app. Subscribers in select locations will now have access to Crunchyroll, an Asian media and Anime service, Qello, a music concert and documentary app, and of course, iTunes Radio, Apple's new service seeking to rival Pandora, which is rolling out in the fall of 2013.

While certain cable subscribers, like those of Time Warner Cable, can already access HBO GO and WatchESPN through their Apple TV, Apple fans who are subscribers of a number of other cable or satellite providers have been left out in the cold. And meanwhile, streaming set top box competitors like Xbox 360, Roku, and Google TV have offered HBO GO (and some offer WatchESPN), and Apple TV has been falling behind the curve.

According to Wired, HBO has wanted to get HBO GO onto Apple TV for a while now, with HBO President and COO Eric Kessler stating at the AllThingsD "Dive Into Media" event, "Our long-term goal for GO is to be on all devices and all platforms," adding "We will get on Apple TV, as we've said all along."

With a subscription to HBO, HBO GO users on Apple TV can get access to the very popular HBO original programming like Game of Thrones, Real Time with Bill Maher, True Blood, and Veep, as well as hit movies, sports, documentaries, comedy specials, bonus features, and behind-the-scene extras.

For people into sports, WatchESPN offers streaming access to several different channels and special programs within the ESPN empire, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line. Like HBO GO, you also have to be a subscriber to a TV service to get streaming ESPN. If you have it though, you can look forward to streaming Monday Night Football, a mass of college sports programming, as well as MLB, NBA, PGA, professional tennis events, and Sports Center on your Apple TV. In addition, there is some app-specific content just for WatchESPN, like highlights, news clips from ESPN.com, and short-form programs E:60, Outside The Lines, SC Featured, Sport Science.

Apple TV will also be getting iTunes Radio for music fans that are shut out from using Pandora's streaming radio. (Though, pro-tip: using AirPlay, you can stream Pandora from your iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV). At WWDC this June, Apple announced iTunes Radio, previously rumored about under the moniker iRadio, which streams music for free based on your listening history and past purchases from iTunes.

With both iTunes Radio and the new additions to Apple TV, the California-based tech giant is looking to pick up the slack and provide streaming services that rivals like Pandora, Ruku, Google, and others have given their users for some time now.

"HBO GO and WatchESPN are some of the most popular iOS apps and are sure to be huge hits on Apple TV," said Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddie Cue. "We continue to offer Apple TV users great new programming options, combined with access to all of the incredible content they can purchase from the iTunes Store."

The new streaming subscription services will be available with the Apple TV version 5.3 software update for second and third generation Apple TV devices.