DALLAS—The launch of HBO Max appears to be helping with total HBO subscription numbers, according to AT&T. One of the few positives highlighted in the company’s second quarter financial report, as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted its button line.
In its first official report since the launch of HBO Max in May, AT&T says that it had 36.3 million U.S. subscribers total for HBO Max and HBO as of June 30. This is up from 34.6 million on Dec. 31, 2019. Specifically, HBO Max attracted 4.1 million overall subscribers, according to AT&T CEO John Stankey.
The rise is in contrast to AT&T’s overall premium TV subscribers, which fell 886,000 to 17.7 million; the company says that 91,000 of that was attributed to Keep America Connected programs.
In addition, while the company added 225,000 AT&T Fiber broadband subscribers, it still had an overall loss of 102,000 broadband subscribers.
Overall, the Q2 net income for AT&T was $1.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in Q2 2019. Revenues fell $8.9 to $41 billion.
During a conference call on its report, AT&T said that it expects COVID-19 to continue to adversely impact its operating results and cash flows for as long as it is present.
“We expect our third-quarter results to be impacted by the shift in timing of advertising revenues from the postponement, restarting or cancellation of sporting events and the related timing of the sports costs,” AT&T said; “lower revenues from the closure of movie theaters and postponement of theatrical releases, partially offset by lower production and other programming expenses; higher expenses to protect front-line employees, contractors and customers; and the continued transition of customers to our fiber broadband services and the acceleration of the disconnection of linear TV services due to the pandemic.”
For more information, visit AT&T’s investor website.
