After teasing some details of HBO Max over the weekend, AT&T has officially offered up more specific information about the upcoming streaming service. At an event this evening, AT&T reveled that HBO Max will launch in May of 2020 for $14.99 per month.
At launch, HBO Max will include 10,000 hours of programming. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, this includes quite a few familiar names:
HBO Max will be filled with 10,000 hours of programming from across the media conglomerate’s divisions including TV hits like Friends, Big Bang Theory and South Park, Warner Bros. films like The Joker, the full HBO catalog and originals like Ansel Elgort drama Tokyo Vice, a Grease spinoff and a Gossip Girl sequel.
There will also be a new Game of Thrones spin-off called House of the Dragon coming to HBO. Current and classic HBO shows, such as Succession and The Sopranos will also be available through the service.
The version of HBO Max that launches in May of 2020 will the the premium subscription service, priced at $14.99 per month. In 2021, however, AT&T plans to offer some sort of ad-supported tier of the service. HBO currently goes for $14.99, but HBO Max will offer even more content and originals, AT&T says.
The $14.99 price point of HBO Max is on the higher-end of the streaming media industry, but that was widely expected. WarnerMedia is seemingly hoping that the HBO named, combined with its expansive content slate, will help justify the premium pricing.
To wrap up the presentation, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson walked on stage to the Game of Thrones soundtrack. “This is not Netflix; This is not Disney,” he proclaimed. “This is uniquely HBO Max.”
HBO Max will also be available for free to existing HBO subscribers. This will help AT&T compete with similar promotions being offered for Apple TV+ and Disney+. AT&T hopes to have 50 million subscribers in the United States by 2025.
What do you think of HBO Max? Will you subscribe when it launches to the public in May? Let us know down in the comments!
WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey repeating what he told me in our interview: AT&T will share HBO Max user data with distributors to help sweeten deals.
— Helen Coster (@hcoster) October 30, 2019
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