HBO is now going straight to customers in the UK, rather than distributing its content through Sky or Netflix, as it has often done in the past. Shows including True Blood, Game of Thrones, and Boardwalk Empire are now available to buy from the Google Play store in the UK.

The Next Web notes customers can purchase the first three seasons of Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, the first six seasons of True Blood, the first two seasons of Girls, and season one of Veep. Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones are both £1.89 in standard definition per episode, with full seasons running between £18 and £22. 

The Pacific, Band of Brothers, The Wire, and The Sopranos will be added to the Google Play catalogue soon, says HBO. Banshee and the first season of The Newsroom will arrive early next year.

"We are delighted to bring our wide range of programming to Google Play in the UK, and expand on our existing relationship in the US," Colin Smith, director of international digital distribution for HBO, said.

"This is an exciting time for HBO in the digital space, and we can't wait to work with Google over the coming weeks and months to deliver all of our series and films to their platform, including a host of new and returning HBO shows throughout 2014."

The prices look to match those offered by the iTunes store for Apple users, as well as those offered by Blinkbox, which has a wide variety of HBO programming available to buy.