By: Nick Gambino
HBO Max, the newest addition to streaming services you’ll absolutely pay for, is officially set to launch on May 27.
While many of us already have HBO Go or HBO Now, the newest stand-alone service from the company that gave us some of the greatest TV in the history of anything (The Sopranos, The Wire, Veep and Game of Thrones to name a few) includes a ton of titles found nowhere else as well as a healthy heaping of originals.
“Our number one goal is having extraordinary content for everyone in the family, and the HBO Max programming mix we are so excited to unveil on May 27th will bear that out,” Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of Warner Media Entertainment and Direct-To-Consumer, said in the company’s press release. “Even in the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, the all-star teams behind every aspect of HBO Max will deliver a platform and a robust slate of content that is varied, of the highest quality, and second to none.”
HBO Max is essentially WarnerMedia’s streaming service that includes all of their content (like Warner Bros. movies, which is a list impressive unto itself), plus HBO movies and shows.
They worked tirelessly to acquire the rights to popular shows that will only exist on the HBO Max streamer like Friends, South Park and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Those are three huge shows that alone should see a giant number of subscribers flocking to the new platform.
In addition to the endless titles in their back catalog, they are planning a ton of HBO Max originals. The slate includes The Not Too Late Show with Elmo, a reboot of Gossip Girl and the second season of DC’s Doom Patrol. We were supposed to see a Friends reunion special when the service premieres in May, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to shift their plans.
They should get a pretty strong boost at launch with all HBO and HBO Now subscribers getting HBO Max for free. Surprisingly, the price, at $14.99, is significantly higher than other recently launched streaming services like Disney+, Apple TV+ and NBC’s Peacock. It’s the same as what you would pay for HBO Now, but it’s also clear they are confident in the quality of their slate drawing subscribers willing to pay that much.
They’re probably not wrong.
