A NEW PLAYER FOR THE STREAMING WAR: HBO MAX LAUNCHES IN THE USA

WarnerMedia’s new online video service, HBO Max, launched in the United States on Wednesday. The multi-year, $4 billion, the direct-to-consumer streaming platform is the last of five major streaming debuts, an unprecedented multibillion-dollar infusion that has upended traditional organizations and strategies. 

The new video service is up against Netflix, Disney+, Disney’s Hulu, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, and other streaming giants. It is regularly priced at USD 14.99 monthly. HBO Max includes everything on HBO plus hundreds of additional titles, including the complete runs of popular TV shows, more than 2,000 movies; and Max Originals “Love Life,” “On the Record,” “Legendary,” “Craftopia,” “Looney Tunes” and originals. The app is currently available for a range of devices including Android phones and tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromebooks, Chromecasts, iPhones, iPads, PlayStation 4, Samsung TV, and Xbox One, but not yet for Roku or Fire TV. WarnerMedia says the service should also be available to HBO subscribers through partners like AT&T, Cox, DirecTV, Hulu, Optimum, Spectrum, Verizon Fios, and YouTube TV (Update: And Comcast!) at no additional cost.

There aren’t any ads and multiple members in the household can stream at the same time. CEO of Otter Media, Tony Goncalves, did not offer any updated outlook on its shape or timing, saying for the next few months. the company’s focus will be on refining the ad-free version. He acknowledged there is no mass-audience precedent for starting ad-free and then adding in a commercial layer, the opposite path from the one taken by CBS All Access and Hulu. “We’re in a unique position,” Goncalves said. “From a strictly subscription service, it will evolve.”

There’s no 4K content available at launch, but a representative says that it will be added in the future. Some skeptics of HBO Max say the number of offerings is confusing, as is the idea of a more robust offering sitting alongside the traditional linear HBO in the company’s product lineup. Goncalves says it is a “blessing and a curse” to be leveraging an existing base of subscribers with a new offering. “We’re not going to walk away from our customers and the way they prefer to engage with our product,” he said, in defense of maintaining multiple flavors of HBO. He described the consumer proposition of opting for Max “a bit of a no-brainer,”  but said the company plans to “educate consumers as best we can and to the extent our partnerships allow.”

For the distribution deals WarnerMedia has signed, existing subscribers of HBO on each platform (for the most part) will receive automatic access to HBO Max. Out of the gate, though, to get access to HBO Max, those subscribers will need to download the HBO Max app on one of the supported platforms (i.e., the content won’t be integrated into program guides on pay-TV providers). At that point, they will need to log in using their existing HBO Now/HBO Go credentials. HBO Max’s launch partners currently include: AT&T, which is offering various bundling and free-trial offers; Apple; Google/YouTube TV; Hulu; Charter; Samsung; Altice USA; Cox; Verizon; Microsoft’s Xbox One; Sony’s PlayStation 4; and the National Cable Television

The company says it has over 10,000 hours of video, including everything on HBO like “Game of Thrones,” and “Westworld,” as well as non-HBO TV shows like “Friends” and “South Park.” It also has a robust kids’ section with parental controls, and material for a wide range of ages, including 572 episodes of “Sesame Street.” The lineup includes newer movies like “Crazy Rich Asians,” “A Star is Born,” “Aquaman” and “Joker,” as well as classics like “Casablanca,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Matrix,” “The Goonies,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Citizen Kane,” and “Gremlins.” (Update: And it sounds like the Harry Potter films got added at the last minute.) HBO Max will also offer titles from the Criterion Collection and the full library of Studio Ghibli films. On HBO Max, originals are available at launch to include a kids reality TV series called “Craftopia,” a new set of “Looney Tunes” cartoons, “The Not Too Late Show With Elmo,” another reality show called “Legendary,” a romantic comedy anthology series starring Anna Kendrick called “Love Life” and a music industry documentary called “On the Record.”