AT&T Announces 6 HBO Max Originals for May 27 Launch of SVOD Service

AT&T outlined its much-anticipated HBO Max service Tuesday. It said subscribers will have access on launch day to six “Max Originals”: scripted comedy Love Life; feature documentary On the Record; dance competition series Legendary; Craftopia; new Looney Tunes Cartoons; and Sesame Workshop’s The Not Too Late Show with Elmo.

AT&T’s timing to launch HBO Max May 27 is "interesting" because will be "when most states have plans (as of now) to open back up again” after COVID-19, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors Tuesday.

WarnerMedia planned 31 original shows at launch when it previewed the service at an October event in Burbank. Tuesday’s news release didn’t specify the number of homegrown programs to be available at launch, only highlighting the half dozen. “This is not overly surprising given production shutdown in wake of COVID,” said Fritzsche.

The media company has more than 10,000 hours of content, Fritzsche noted. Also due to be available on day one are libraries of Friends; The Big Bang Theory; Doctor Who; Rick and Morty; The Boondocks; The Bachelor; Sesame Street and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; CW shows such as Batwoman, Nancy Drew and Katy Keene; the first season of DC’s Doom Patrol; The O.C. and Pretty Little Liars; and the CNN catalog of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. The platform will add the libraries of South Park, Gossip Girl, The West Wing and others in year one, it said.

After the initial launch, Max Originals will continue to premiere on the streaming service “at a regular cadence through summer and fall,” said WarnerMedia. Among the shows planned for second half launches are The Flight Attendant, a Friends cast reunion special, new episodes of Doom Patrol, Search Party, Expecting Amy, Raised by Wolves, Close Enough and Adventure Time.

In October, AT&T gave an HBO Max price point of $14.99 monthly, free for current HBO customers. As of Dec. 31, it had roughly 30 million HBO subscribers, Fritzsche noted.

Nearly half of HBO’s 50 million U.S. subscribers by the end of 2025 will be HBO Max direct-to-consumer streaming customers, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said in October (see 1910300030). About 10 million of HBO’s current subscribers are on AT&T video platforms; they, too, will be eligible for HBO Max at no additional charge, he said. WarnerMedia was working with distributors to move other HBO and HBO Now customers to HBO Max at no extra charge. Annual “incremental revenue” from HBO Max is expected to reach $5 billion by the end of 2025, said Stephens.