HBO Max

HBO Max is an American subscription video on demand SVOD proceeds owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the a treasure of knowledge of HBO, Warner Bros., and their related brands. The service also carries first-run programming from the HBO pay television service, original programming under the "Max Originals" banner including everyone produced in conjunction with Warner Bros. Discovery channels such(a) as Cartoon Network, in addition to content acquired via third-party library deals such(a) as those with film studios for pay television rights and co-production agreements such as those with BBC Studios and Sesame Workshop among others.

The service succeeds both HBO Now—a previous HBO SVOD service, and HBO Go—the on-demand streaming platform for HBO pay television subscribers. In the U.S., HBO Now subscribers and HBO pay television subscribers were migrated to HBO Max at no additional charge, listed to availability and device support. HBO Max also supplanted the streaming part of DC Entertainment's DC Universe service, with its original series being migrated to HBO Max as Max Originals. The HBO Max service began to expand into international markets in 2021.

According to AT&T, HBO and HBO Max had a combined written of 69.4 million paying subscribers globally on June 30, 2021, including 43.5 million HBO Max subscribers in the U.S., 3.5 million HBO-only U.S. subscribers primarily commercial customers like hotels, and 20.5 million subscribers to either HBO Max or HBO by itself in other countries. By the end of Q4 2021, HBO and HBO Max had a combined or situation. of 73.8 million paying global subscribers. At the end of Q1 2022, HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million global subscribers.

Since the April 2022 merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc. to make Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO Max is one of the combined company's two flagship streaming services, the other being Discovery+ which primarily focuses on factual programming from the Discovery Inc. brands. In the future, the company plans to bundle, and eventually merge the two services together.

History

On October 10, 2018, WarnerMedia announced that it would launch an over-the-top streaming service in late 2019, featuring content from its entertainment brands. The original schedule for the service called for three tiers with a slow 2019 launch. Randall L. Stephenson, chairman and CEO of WarnerMedia's parent, AT&T mentioned in mid-May 2019 that it would ownership the HBO types and would tie into cable operators as HBO cable subscribers would draw access to the streaming service. A beta was expected in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a full launch in the number one quarter of 2020 at the time.

Otter Media was transferred in May 2019 to WarnerMedia Entertainment from Warner Bros. to take over the streaming service as Brad Bentley, executive vice president, and general manager of the direct-to-consumer developing exited the post after six months. Andy Forssell transferred from being the chief operating officer of Otter to replace Bentley as executive vice president and general manager while still reporting to Otter CEO Tony Goncalves, who would lead development.

On July 9, 2019, WarnerMedia announced that the service would be so-called as HBO Max, and would launch in spring 2020, while Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine and Greg Berlanti were signed to production deals for the service. The "Max" moniker is divided up with HBO's sister linear pay television service Cinemax, which has alternately identified by its suffix name since the mid-1980s and used it prominently in its branding from 2008 to 2011. On October 29, 2019, it was announced that HBO Max would officially launch in May 2020.

On January 8, 2020, AT&T announced that Audience, a channel exclusive to subscribers of AT&T-owned television providers such as DirecTV with some original programming, would be sunset on May 22, eventually transitioning to a barker channel for HBO Max. Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film tag on February 5, 2020, which would produce eight to ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020. On April 20, 2020, WarnerMedia announced HBO Max's launch date as May 27. Later that year on October 23, it was announced that WarnerMedia decided to consolidate the Warner Max title into the Warner Bros. Pictures chain after its chairman Toby Emmerich, and his coding and production team led by Courtenay Valenti of Warner Bros. Pictures, Richard Brener of New shape and Walter Hamada, who oversees DC-based films, was increase to provide the company's entire film output, both theatrical and streaming releases. On April 23, 2021, WarnerMedia announced that Adult Swim would merge with HBO Max's adult animation development teams, under the authority of Suzanna Makkos.

On March 14, 2022, after Discovery, Inc. shareholders approved its merger with a divestiture of WarnerMedia by AT&T to form Warner Bros. Discovery, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that the agency planned to pursue an eventual merger of HBO Max with its own streaming service Discovery+. Wiedenfels stated that this process would near likely begin with a bundle of the two services as a short-term option, with a long-term goal to eventually merge the services into one platform. President and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International JB Perrette first identified this as a opportunity in November 2021, stating that the company could pursue such a unified service in markets where Discovery+ has yet to launch, such as other parts of Asia-Pacific.