Streaming service Max will finally be rolling out to Europe later this Spring, replacing HBO Max on the continent. Except for the United Kingdom, that is – the situation on the British Isles is a little complicated.
This news comes straight from a keynote presentation by JB Perette, who is the CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games over at Warner Bros. Discovery. The roll out won’t happen all at once, but in two waves.
On May 21, Max will officially launch in the Nordic countries, the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Central and Eastern Europe. It’s important to mention those regions already have HBO Max available to them so the change is happening there sooner. After that, the service will soon be made available in Poland, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium.
It’s unknown exactly when the platform will go live in the last four countries, however it could happen in the summer. As Variety points out, the 2024 Olympic Games will kick off in Paris on July 26. Plus, “Max will be the only platform to stream all live coverage of the [games]”. So if they want to have most of Europe watching the Olympics, it’ll have to come out before then.
Pricing
Pricing for subscription plans, at this moment, is unknown. Prices weren’t revealed during Perette’s presentation, although there is some information out there. According to Variety, Max in Europe will offer a cheap basic plan with ads, and a premium plan that’ll allow viewers to “stream content in Full HD or 4K on up to four devices simultaneously”. They go on to claim users will be given “up to 100 downloads of content.” As the service becomes available, pricing should become more clear.
On the surface, it seems Max subscribers can download up to 100 individual movies and shows from the platform. It is possible that Variety is actually talking about users being allowed to download hundreds of movies and shows. We believe it’s the former, but again, the wording isn’t super clear.
Going back to the subscriptions, the basic plan will first launch in nine countries including Denmark, France, Norway, and Romania. Pricing for everything “will vary from country to country”. More will be revealed within the coming months.
UK availability
Max’s presence in the United Kingdom depends on the business deal Warner Bros. Discovery has with the British telecommunications company Sky.
As Deadline explains, Sky is the “exclusive distributor of most HBO content” in the UK due to a “lucrative licensing deal”. The contract doesn’t expire until 2026, so it’s entirely possible people there will have to wait another two years before they can get something resembling Max.
Sky has special “life of series agreements” for certain content so they can continue streaming them even if the deal changes. Of course, Warner Bros. and Sky can alter their contract within the next two years, but whether or not that’ll happen remains to be seen.
For film recommendations, check out TechRadar’s roundup of the best Max movies to stream in March 2024.