BURBANK, Calif.—HBO Max, the anticipated streaming service from WarnerMedia, will be available for consumers in May 2020 at a monthly subscription price of $14.99. This is one of four new streaming services set to enter the market, joining Disney+ and Apple TV+, which are both launching in November of this year, and NBCU's Peacock in April 2020.
WarnerMedia made the launch date and pricing announcement during what it called WarnerMedia Day on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank, Calif.
At launch, AT&T will be offering HBO Max to its roughly 10 million HBO subscribers on AT&T distribution platforms for free. Other AT&T customers on premium video, mobile and broadband services will be offered bundles with HBO Max included at no additional charge. HBO Now direct-billed users who subscribe through HBONow.com will also be given access to HBO Max. WarnerMedia said it is in active discussions with other distributors to provide the HBO Max platform.
The goal for HBO Max, according to WarnerMedia, is 50 million domestic subscribers and 75 to 90 million premium subscribers by the end of 2025 throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe; though it was revealed that international markets aren't expected to have access to HBO Max until 2021.
HBO Max plans to try and attract these subscribers through its content, including what it says is 10,000 hours of premium content that combines popular archival shows and movies, as well as original programming.
The library content is led by HBO’s popular titles of TV shows and movies, including “Game of Thrones” and the newly announced prequel series “House of the Dragon.” Other popular shows that will be featured on the service include “South Park,” “Rick and Morty,” “The Bachelor,” “The West Wing,” “Friends,” “Impractical Jokers,” “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” and the libraries of The Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies and Hannah Barbara.
Some of the original content includes a Green Lantern TV series, sci-fi show “Raised by Wolves” executive produced and directed by Ridley Scott, original shows from Mindy Kaling and Issa Rae, stand-up specials presented by Conan O’Brien and more. For its original programming, HBO Max has announced that like Disney+ and Apple TV+ it will rollout the shows every week rather than the bingeable launches of Netflix shows.
There are also plans to eventually schedule live, interactive and special event programming. The complete list of what will be available on HBO Max at launch can be seen here.
WarnerMedia also highlighted some of the features of the HBO Max service. These will include recommendations from talent and influencers, shared homepages that are designed for co-viewing habits, personalized profiles and homepages, kids’ profiles and parental PIN usage, content hubs and downloads for offline viewing.
WarnerMedia also announced that it expects to launch an AVOD option within its first year to offer flexible pricing packages.
Watch the promo video for HBO Max below:
