How beautiful the world would be if there was a culture flat rate. You simply pay a comfortable amount per month and get access to films, series and books. Unfortunately, various rights holders and media companies are putting a huge strain on our budgets. What a shame.
So if you want to watch as many series as you want, you have only two alternatives: either you use the various streaming portals, which are guaranteed illegal. Or you can bypass the geoblocking of video-on-demand providers with a VPN. This variant is not wanted by the respective service providers like HBO, Amazon or Netflix, but also not illegal. With a VPN, you are virtually fooling the provider into thinking that you are in the USA, for example.
In this article we show you how you can stream the popular series of HBO like “Game of Thrones”, “Sopranos” or “The Wire”; the best thing is, HBO is free for one month (after that $14,99 per month, HBO Nordic even only about 9 EUR per month), if you haven’t registered with HBO before. I will also go through different options with you, depending on which HBO branch you choose (HBO NOW or Nordic).
I assume that you are generally in Germany and want to access the American HBO. Of course the contents are also only available in English language. The presented techniques should also work from other countries.
HBO GO, HBO NOW or HBO Nordic?
HBO is basically available in two versions: GO and NOW. For us only HBO NOW is interesting, because you need a US-American address and a cable subscription for HBO GO. NOW on the other hand works as a pure online streaming program. Fortunately, the catalogue remains exactly the same.
But most interesting for most of them should be the Scandinavian offshoot HBO Nordic. In some cases it offers even more choice in series and is cheaper. However, there are a few restrictions: you can only log in and stream with a maximum of one device and you have to do without support for XBox and Kindle Fire TV. Sport and news are unfortunately not part of the Scandinavian catalogue either, as the friendly e-mail support told me.
If you are interested in live premieres like “Game of Thrones”, you should also get a HBO NOW subscription. HBO Nordic will release it about an hour after the premiere in the USA.
If you don’t care, then follow the instructions under variant 1 for HBO Nordic.
If you register for HBO Nordic, you have to do everything via a Scandinavian IP address. ExpressVPN allows you to do this quite easily via the in-house app. If you also want to watch HBO Nordic via iOS devices, you also need a Scandinavian Apple ID so you can download the corresponding app. This sounds more complicated than it is: all you need is a “fresh” e-mail address and you have to set the language in iTunes to Swedish, for example, and register again. You already have a Scandinavian Apple ID.
- The disadvantage of this variant is that you can of course do very little else with a Scandinavian Apple ID, which is linked to your iTunes account. If you don’t have any Apple devices, the advantage of this variant is that you can log in to HBO Nordic without VPN to watch series. The login will then work normally via your browser or the installed apps (as of April 2018).
- The payment for the subscription to HBO can also be processed normally via a German credit card, without a US address check.
- HBO Nordic can also have further advantages: some series are not available from HBO NOW for legal reasons, e.g. the series “The Good Fight”. CBS has sold the rights to Amazon, but HBO Nordic can still broadcast them.
- Here again an overview table of the offers (for the sake of completeness GO is also listed, even if it doesn’t matter for most)
Avoid geoblocking with HBO
Of course, you can’t just register and enjoy your favorite series, as the first step is to welcome you with the following message (Service Code: H-50cdb8ec-7e04-44e7-ba23-4902b7f25cfe): The HBO Geoblocking prevents access to their program and registration form if you are not in the USA. The best way to do it anyway is with a VPN provider (we recommend ExpressVPN). You need this in any case, for all variants presented here.
HBO Nordic with a VPN provider and credit card
Another advantage of HBO Nordic is that you can register directly via the website and also with a German credit card. You can only buy HBO NOW via in-app purchases.
Step 1: Select VPN provider
You should always connect to a VPN service first. This masks your IP address so that you can virtually be in e.g. Sweden and use HBO Nordic. In this example I use ExpressVPN, because the Swedish connection works well and fast here. In the VPN Test 2018 you can also look at and compare over 20 other services. ExpressVPN costs $12.95 for monthly payments, and $6.67 for annual payments and our voucher link will get you in for as little as $6.67 a month.
Step 2: Register with HBO Nordic
If you are connected to a VPN, you can open hbonordic.com. Of course the site will be in Swedish, but don’t worry, you can change the language to English in the lower right corner. Then click on “Start your free trial” for the trial month.
Step 3: Enter credit card details
Even if it is a trial month, you must have a valid credit card (Visa or Mastercard). The subscription costs 89 SEK or 9 EUR after the test month. The service accepts German credit cards without any problems.
Step 4: Stream and enjoy series
After you have registered, you can log in directly to HBO Nordic and stream your favourite series – but only in English. The best thing about it seems to work without VPN at the moment. With this account you can also download the apps from the respective stores, but keep in mind that you also need a Swedish Apple ID for iTunes.
Further Information And Tutorials
For a more detailed HBO explanation check out the tutorial at http://watchoutsideus.com/hbo-go/. If you want to unblock netflix read more at http://www.unblocknetflix.net/.