No HBO Go App for my LG OLED Smart TV

If somebody had told me I could not get the HBO Go app on my LG OLED Smart TV, I would have figured they were wrong. Blows my mind. The TV is only a year or so old. It was pretty expensive, as far as Smart TVs go. But the HBO Go app is definitely not offered in the premium apps in my LG Content tab. A search for it specifically turned up nothing.

Wouldn’t have even mattered but I found a movie I want to watch from reading the story about Laura Dern in Vanity Fair. Reminds me of when I was at the Apple store in Honolulu over New Year’s. It took so long to transfer my data from my old iPhone to my new iPhone XR that I had plenty of time to play with all the gizmos in the store.

Believe it or not, I did not know what Apple TV was until I saw it in the store. The Apple guy said I could play whatever videos I had on my iPad or iPhone on TV. Would I ever do that? No, I said no. But now that is exactly what I want to do. I want to play my HBO Go app on my LG OLED Smart TV, and I can’t do it. I could do it if I had Apple TV, though. Since it’s only this one movie I want to watch, I think it is better to spend $8 on Amazon Prime than it is to pay $100 for Apple TV.

And at least I have HBO Go on my iPad now. Theoretically, if I wasn’t in first class, I could watch movies on my iPad on a plane as long as I downloaded them first. Actually, I don’t know if I will ever watch HBO Go on my iPad.

As I pondered this situation, I then realized I could call LG TV and get a customer service rep to walk me through this situation. The woman on the other end of the phone helped me to search for: videos and tv for LG Smart TV cast. Found an app and downloaded it to both my LG OLED Smart TV and my iPad. Connected it. Voila.

However, I needed the URL for the HBO Go app video, and when I clicked on HBO Go, I became disconnected. The cast works by sharing your screen. Except there was some step missing, and this was beyond the pay grade of the person on the phone at LG.

Hey, you know what? This is not the only TV in the house. I bought another TV for $300 that I’m using as a monitor to run my Sacramento real estate business. I plugged in that TV, downloaded the HBO Go app and it works like a charm. Of course, it’s a 32-inch screen. Who can watch TV on a 32-inch screen when I have a TV twice that size?

Of course, there is the problem that I cannot download the HBO Go app on my LG OLED Smart TV.

Amazon Prime it is.