After months of insisting, AT&T and Warner Bros. headliner streaming company HBO Max is finally coming to Roku. Oh, and it̵
It’s a big deal: the service launched in May without support for Amazon’s Fire TV and Roku, the two most popular (and least expensive!) Smart TV platforms out there. There was much speculation as to why, and the speculative answer was and still is “money.” No matter how much money changed hands, HBO Max landed on Fire TV streaming devices and Fire-powered smart TVs in November, exactly one month before the release of Roku.
HBO Max appears to be WB’s all-in step towards conquering streaming, with a massive library of content from the movie and TV producer, along with decades of premium shows from HBO. The biggest bombshell fell last week: all of WB’s 2021 movie releases will hit HBO Max on the same day as theaters, at no additional cost. That includes Wonder Woman 1984 (which releases Christmas Day), Godzilla vs Kong, Dune, Matrix 4, and many other blockbusters.
With coverage on more or less every major smart TV platform, HBO Max is well positioned to take on the juggernauts of the TV and movie industry, old and new: Disney and Netflix.
