HBO Max is WarnerMedia's streaming service champion

HBO Max - where all your Friends will be

by Andy Bassett
Movies & TV Shows News

12

HBO Max is WarnerMedia's streaming service champion
AT&T’s WarnerMedia is marshalling its streaming forces under the new banner of HBO Max, which will hold some of Warner’s signature programmes plus brand new content.
Due for launch in spring 2020, WarnerMedia has wisely kept the brand recognition its HBO nomenclature invokes and added an audience friendly ‘Max’ - presumably they realised that yet another streaming service bearing ‘Plus’ would be somewhat confusing.

Trumpeting the evergreen Friends, which will be moving from its current Netflix residence back to its WarnerMedia home at the end of the year, the press release mentions a raft of fan favourite TV shows and movies that will be made available from the company's huge library along with a wide range of original programming which it has dubbed ‘Max Originals.’

The feverish coraling of content back to the original producer’s welcoming arms is taking place across the streaming market currently and marks the end of a golden age of content availability under only a few service’s roofs (let’s be honest, mainly Netflix).

This means though that WarnerMedia now has the full 236 episodes of Friends to entice TV fans with, along with the full run of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Pretty Little Liars as well. It will also be able to mix in its HBO content such as Game of Thrones and Veep as well as a broad swathe of content types ranging from staples like Sesame Street to topical satires such as Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Add in movies like Wonder Woman and Shazam from DC Entertainment and content from The CW Network, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN and others and the huge choice becomes apparent.

And that’s even before HBO Max’s ‘Max Originals’ begin to show up. Somewhere down the line the Game of Thrones prequel will appear as an HBO exclusive, at least to start off with, but there’s also a planned spin off series from Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune adaptation called Dune: The Sisterhood, plus series coming from Joss Whedon (The Never), Anna Kendrick (Love Life), along with an animated Gremlins series. J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot production company was also widely reported as having signed a $500 million agreement to create content for the new service too.

Robert Greenblatt, chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer, said, "HBO Max will bring together the diverse riches of WarnerMedia to create programming and user experiences not seen before in a streaming platform.” He went on further, “HBO’s world-class programming leads the way, the quality of which will be the guiding principle for our new array of Max Originals, our exciting acquisitions, and the very best of the Warner Bros. libraries, starting with the phenomenon that is ‘Friends,’

A beta version of the service is expected towards the end of 2019 before the full launch in 2020 which will see up to 10,000 hours of premium content available. The expected cost for access to this trove of content has not yet been confirmed yet but it has been heavily rumoured to be around the $17 a month mark.

How do AVForums members feel about this new streaming landscape? Has WarnerMedia done enough to keep up interest in HBO Max? Will you consider subscribing? Let us know in the discussion thread.

Source: Press release, www.flatpanelshd.com, www.cnet.com,
Image Source: Engadget

Follow AVforums on Google News

To share your thoughts on the above, click the Discussion tab and post a reply.

Related Content

AVForums Movies and TV Show Podcast: 25th March 2024
  • By Phil Hinton
  • Published
Where to watch the 2024 Oscar best picture nominees
  • By Andy Bassett
  • Published
Freely TV platform set for a Q2 UK launch
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published

Latest Headlines

AVForums Movies and TV Show Podcast: 25th March 2024
  • By Phil Hinton
  • Published
Where to watch the 2024 Oscar best picture nominees
  • By Andy Bassett
  • Published
Freely TV platform set for a Q2 UK launch
  • By Ian Collen
  • Published
Back
Top Bottom