What’s on offer: Over 10,000 hours of premium video content, including classic and contemporary films and series. Some of the main assets have been bought from competitors – these are the legendary series “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory. In addition to these you get cult HBO series (Game of Thrones, Sex and the City, Wild West World, The Sopranos Clan), cartoons from TNT, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes and anime from Studio Ghibli of Japan. Fans of art house and auteur world cinema will have access to the Criterion collection, and for the mass audience there is an impressive base of series and films of New Line and Warner Bros studios (“The Lord of the Rings”, “The Matrix”, “Casablanca”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Gremlins” and others). With a look back at the competitor, Disney+ is focusing on DC superhero movies (“Wonder Woman,” “Superman” and the Batman series). On the whole, the only downside to the launch is the lack of new original series.
HBO Max is positioned as a “platform with a human face. The service has a convenient and intuitive interface, as well as a special system of curation by subscribers. Separate sections of the platform will be dedicated to collections and playlists recommended by real people (from WarnerMedia editors to celebrities).
Platforms and devices: Amazon Fire, Roku, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC, Samsung Smart TV, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, TiVo
How much: $14.99 a month is the most expensive service and no 4K video yet. But existing HBO Now and HBO Go subscribers will get access to HBO Max for free.