HBO Max enters the streaming wars with official launch date

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It's already a crowded marketplace out there for streaming with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+ & many others already vying for our attention and now another service is hoping while we quarantine at home that we'll give them a shot as well. WarnerMedia has officially announced a launch date for their streaming service HBO MAX.

HBO MAX will launch on May 27, 2020 and will be available for $14.99 a month. HBO Max will be available online and via a number of platforms including Charter Communications and YouTube’s TV MVPD service. Also, if you already have HBO via your cable provider, you can add HBO Max at no additional cost. The service will pull from WarnerMedia’s library of films and TV series from Warner Bros.’ content collection, New Line, library titles from DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes, a selection of classic films curated in partnership with TCM, as well as third-party acquired series and movie titles, per "Deadline."

HBO Max will kickoff with a slate that includes a series featuring Anna Kendrick called Love Life, a documentary feature called On The Record, which details accusations of sexual harassment and rape against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, Legenday, an underground ballroom dance competition series & an all new Looney Tunes Cartoons from Warner Bros. Animation. There is more original programming headed to the service including a reboot of Gossip Girl, Kaley Cuoco’s The Flight Attendant & Ansel Elgort’s Tokyo Vice. It was also announced last week that J.J. Abrams was working on three shows for the service Overlook, set in Stephen King’s THE SHINING universe, a DC Justice League Dark show and period drama, Duster. 

There was a planned Friends reunion special that was going to help usher in the entire Friends library to the service but the COVID-19 shutdowns postponed the taping of the special and there is no set date for the special to get underway at this time. The big sell for HBO Max will definitely be its library of established content which includes the aforementioned Friends, which left Netflix at the first of the year due to its new deal with HBO Max, South Park & The Big Bang Theory to name a few.

We definitely have a lot of options to choose from and. I'm definitely interested in seeing what HBO Max has to offer. I already have HBO so it can't hurt to give HBO Max a look and see if it's worth the $14.99 a month in case any of my friends are interested in it. Speaking of Friends, I know A LOT of people missing streaming that show so I think that's going to be a big selling point for the service, along with all of the episodes of The Big Bang Theory. 

Will YOU be checking out HBO Max? The service launches on May 27, 2020.