HBO streaming service coming to consoles

Time Warner is bringing its HBO Go video-on-demand service to consoles and smart TVs.

According to a report on Gigaom, the move was revealed by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes in an earnings call following the company's second quarter financial results.

HBO Go was launched early in 2010 as a browser-based service for films and HBO's back-catalogue of TV series, with apps for iPhone, iPad and Android following in April this year.

Time Warner claims that the apps have been downloaded 4 million times, and HBO Go users generally watch more content than those who only use the TV network.

Streaming film and television content is a significant growth area on consoles, with Netflix, in particular, enjoying great success on all three platforms.

A Nielsen study released last month indicated that 50 per cent of Netflix users accessed its content through a console. The Wii supports 1.5 million Netflix users in the U.S. every day.