AT&T will make HBO Max free to some customers, sets May 27 launch

By Helen Coster

April 21 (Reuters) – AT&T Inc. announced Tuesday it will its HBO Max streaming service free to some customers when it launches on May 27.

The HBO Max app will be pre-loaded on the AT&T TV set top box. HBO Max will also be included with the AT&T Internet 1000 plan – the fastest residential internet that AT&T provides – at no additional charge, and in AT&T-owned DirecTV’s biggest package, DirecTV Premier, among other forms of distribution.

AT&T earlier told Reuters it is expecting to reach 10 million AT&T customers who are also HBO subscribers in the United States at no extra charge.

HBO Max will enter a crowded streaming landscape dominated by Netflix Inc, Walt Disney co-owned Disney+, and Amazon.com Inc’s Prime Video, and will include 10,000 hours of content from AT&T-owned WarnerMedia brands and libraries such as Warner Bros, New Line Cinema and Cartoon Network.

It will cost $15 per month for non-AT&T customers. (Reporting by Helen Coster)