What We Know About HBO Max: Price, 'South Park,' Studio Ghibli And More

AT&T Inc. T's WarnerMedia unit detailed its new HBO Max direct-to-consumer strategy, including pricing points and programming options.

What To Know

HBO's streaming platform will launch in May 2020 and will cost $14.99 a month, the company said in a press release. The platform will be offered at no cost to existing AT&T HBO and HBO Now customers and certain other bundled customers.

When the platform goes live, consumers will have access to 10,000 hours of premium content, the entire HBO service, new HBO Max original programming along with content from Warner Bros and much more.

HBO Max will also include a large selection of third party acquired series and movie tiles.

The service will also include international content, including anime from Japanese animation from Studio Ghibli, according to Nikei Asian Review. A total of 21 Ghibli films will be made available, including "Spirited Away" which took home an Academy Award. Bringing foreign content could be seen as a way for HBO to stand out in the growing streaming market.

"South Park" fans will be delighted to hear all 23 seasons of the cartoon will be included in the platform as HBO won exclusive streaming rights. In addition, new episodes will be made available online 24 hours after they debut on Comedy Central. The deal is valued at $500 million to $550 million, according to Variety.

Why It's Important

HBO Max will be the newest competitor in the so-called streaming wars, battling Netflix, Inc. NFLX, Walt Disney Co's DIS Disney+ and Apple Inc.'s AAPL Apple TV+, among others.

HBO Max's streaming service is the end result of the company coming together to deliver "one of the most robust collections of premium streaming content," Robert Greenblatt, chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer, said in the press release.

"We couldn't achieve this without AT&T's unprecedented and enthusiastic support," the executive also said. "When you live in a world with ‘dragons' — it feels very good to have one of your own in the game!"

AT&T and HBO will be targeting 50 million domestic subscribers and up to 90 million premium subscribers through the end of 2025 across the U.S., Latin America and Europe.

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