Well played, Verizon.
Just ahead of the highly anticipated season six premiere of fantasy show Game of Thrones, Verizon announced a deal with HBO NOW that will give new customers three months of free access to all of HBO’s series.
To take advantage of the offer, Verizon said customers need to upgrade their device or activate a new line of service with a smartphone on the carrier’s device payment plan. Tablets activated on a two-year activation or device payment plan are also eligible, Verizon said. Windows phones are not eligible for the promotion.
Customers will receive a free three-month subscription to HBO NOW. After three months, the carrier said the subscription will automatically begin charging a fee of $14.99 per month to the subscriber’s credit card.
The move marks Verizon’s latest content-focused play and comes just days after the carrier announced an agreement to acquire a stake in and content from DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV for its go90 mobile video platform. Last month, Verizon also inked a deal with Hearst under which the media company will produce two mobile TV channels for go90.
Unlike the go90 agreements, Verizon seems to have its fingers crossed this deal will help it draw new subscribers by capitalizing on both the popularity of Game of Thrones and HBO in general and the massive wireless trend toward video consumption,.
The promotion will also likely help the carrier combat competing offers from T-Mobile and Sprint, which recently announced deals for a free year of MLB.TV and Amazon Prime service, respectively.
The sixth season of Game of Thrones, by the way, premieres on April 24. But you already knew that.
