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technology Friday 29 May 2020
Too much TV? Enter HBO Max, the latest streaming wannabe

to be ready for launch.
But that impact will be felt
more in 2021 than this year,
Forssell said. Originals are
important because they
help bring on subscribers
and get them to keep pay-
ing, month after month.
For AT&T, getting HBO Max
right is critical. Its DirecTV
satellite service is bleeding
customers, and the tradi-
tional TV model is under
threat from industry-wide
cord-cutting and, recently,
a coronavirus-related ad-
vertiser retreat. (AT&T owns
TBS, TNT, CNN and other
networks.) q

In this Jan. 15, 2020, file photo, EVP of Content Acquisitions for TNT, TBS, truTV, HBO & HBO MAX Michael Quigley, from left, Chief
Content Officer, HBO MAX and President, TNT,TBS, & truTV Kevin Reilly and Head of Original Content , HBO MAX Sarah Aubrey appear
at the HBO Max Executive Sessions panel during the HBO TCA 2020 Winter Press Tour at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena, Calif.
Associated Press
By TALI ARBEL Entertainment compa- man movies from DC. The WarnerMedia would like to
AP Technology Writer nies like AT&T’s WarnerMe- Warner Bros. film library convert those users to HBO
Is a pandemic the per- dia are broadly shifting to stretches back decades to Max, but there are con-
fect time to launch a new streaming video, following Hollywood’s golden age. tract issues that muck it up
and relatively expensive in Netflix’ wake, as more There’s even a reboot of and could potentially an-
streaming service? AT&T people drop their tradition- Looney Tunes. tagonize customers.
sure hopes so. al cable bundles. Disney “Maybe timing is actually “The confusion point is one
The phone company is in- launched Disney Plus and good,” said Wells Fargo we’ve obsessed over for a
vesting billions in HBO Max, the sports-focused ESPN analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. year,” said Andy Forssell,
its first big entertainment Plus and took control of “There might be a Netflix the general manager of
venture since it spent $85 Hulu from an industry joint exhaustion factor.” Netflix WarnerMedia’s direct-to-
billion for Time Warner in venture. Comcast’s NBCU- has predicted extremely consumer arm.
2018. The good news for niversal is launching Pea- strong subscriber gains for It’s easy to prompt HBO
its timing: millions are stuck cock widely this summer. this quarter. Now users to switch to Max
at home, watching more ViacomCBS is redoing CBS But people will have to de- if they signed up directly
video than ever. The bad All Access, pumping it up cide if it’s worth paying up through HBO, and many
news: many of them also with more programming. for a new video service on big cable companies have
out of work and carefully Even Fox Corp. has its Fox top of the “foundational” agreed to promote HBO
watching their incomes. Nation app. Apple, a tech services many already Max to their existing HBO
The service launches company, started a small have: Netflix, the heaps of customers. But there’s no
Wednesday in the U.S. service of its own. A short- video that come with an deal yet with Roku and
“People are going to look video service targeted to Amazon Prime member- Amazon, so people who
at the price point first,” said cellphones, Quibi, also ship, Hulu and, increasingly, signed up for HBO through
Steve Nason, research di- hopes to get in on the Disney Plus, Nason said. them won’t easily have ac-
rector at Parks Associates. streaming pie; it hasn’t had The company has predict- cess to Max on a TV.
HBO Max costs $15, same much success yet. ed 50 million U.S. subscribers That’s likely to be resolved,
as the HBO Now stream- HBO Max comes stacked by 2025, building on a base Nason predicted.
ing service it’s supposed with goodies, like brows- of 36 million current HBO Another weak point for War-
to replace, with discounts ing a particularly pleasing customers, per research nerMedia is that the coro-
after the launch limited to Blockbuster store — clas- firm S&P Global. That num- navirus pandemic has shut
some AT&T customers as sic quality-TV series from ber includes people who down Hollywood produc-
well as a one-week free HBO like “The Sopranos,” pay their cable company tions, and that’s expected
trial. Other new streaming “The Wire” and “Sex and for the channel and the to slow down the rollout of
services such as Disney Plus the City;” comfort-food HBO Go app as well as HBO Max’s original produc-
and Quibi launched with network TV in “Friends” those who subscribe to tions, such as a highly an-
cheaper prices and bigger and “The Big Bang Theo- the HBO Now standalone ticipated “Friends” reunion
discounts. ry;” Superman and Bat- streaming service. special that was supposed