HBO Max‘s long-awaited launch in the UK and Ireland will take place on March 26.
The service will be offered directly to consumers and through launch partners Amazon and Sky – mirroring how the service debuted in countries such as Australia. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) had teased a “late March” launch late last year.
The UK and Ireland’s cheapest tier, Basic with Ads, is priced at £4.99 ($6.79) per month and Standard with Ads is £5.99. The standard tier with no ads is £9.99 and the premium tier is £14.99.
Additionally, TNT Sports subscribers will access their accounts through HBO Max, with the price remaining at £30.99. Discovery+ will stay as the streaming home of the service until March 26. Discovery+ will remain a standalone service and is expected to move out of the Warner Bros. ecosystem when Discovery Global spins out as a standalone company later this year.
The Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)-owned HBO Max will be made available in the UK and Ireland through TVs, set-top boxes, streaming devices, mobiles, tablets, game consoles and platforms such as Android, EE/BT TV, Fire TV, iOS, LG, PlayStation, Roku, Samsung, Virgin TV and Xbox.
The service is already available in 110 territories worldwide, is now bringing its content mix of HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, DC Studios and Max originals, with Emmy-winning medical series The Pitt toplining the launch slate.
New seasons of Euphoria and House of the Dragon are slated, along with Green Lantern DC series Lanterns and the upcoming Harry Potter TV show. Several upcoming originals are being qualified as “co-exclusives” with long-term local partner Sky.
On the movie front comes Superman, One Battle After Another, Sinners, A Minecraft Movie and Dune: Part One among others.
The launch is particularly seismic in the UK due to the long-running content pact between Warner Bros/HBO and Sky, which to this point as been the only home of new HBO shows, even leading the launch of pay channel Sky Atlantic.
“After decades of delighting audiences in the UK and Ireland with our remarkable stories and brands, it’s a huge thrill to finally bring it all together on HBO Max, and also offer it direct to all consumers,” said JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at WBD.
WBD has now completed the rollout of HBO Max in Europe. The service launched in the U.S. in 2020 and has since expanded into Europe, Asia and Latin America, and WBD says its streaming services are on track to hit 130 million-plus subscribers worldwide.
Some market watchers have pointed to the slower rollout of HBO Max than rival global streaming services. However, Perrette told an audience of journalists at a launch event in central London that the service would benefit from “last mover advantage” – a phrase that’s been used to explain launch times in countries such as Australia and Italy. Essentially, WBD’s argument is HBO Max hits the market with several pricing tiers in place and a well-developed content strategy.
Paolo Pescatore, analyst and founder at PP Foresight, who was in attendance at the launch event, said: “This is the first time HBO will be available in this key European market on a standalone basis, given its exclusive, long-standing relationship with Sky. Therefore, it is late to the streaming party, with its rivals having a huge head start in awareness, reach and subscriber bases.
“Make no mistake, this represents a key first step. The next phase of rollout will see additional partnerships with telco – and other – carriage partnerships and punchy bundles.”
He added that Sky is “potentially one of the biggest losers” from HBO Max’s launch. “Let’s see what the company has up its own sleeve to mitigate against the loss of HBO exclusivity,” he added. “I fully expect to see the unveiling of new partnerships, features, pricing, and deeper, more integrated bundles.”
WBD remains in the throes of a takeover by streamer Netflix, and the question remains over what happens to HBO Max if that game-changing deal goes ahead. Perrette declined to directly address the takeover, but did say HBO Max could be “useful to Netflix’s strategic ambitions” thanks to its more niche focus.
