Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

HBO Max and Roku bury the hatchet: Roku users can add the service December 17

Simon Cohen
By

It’s been a long time coming, but Roku has finally announced that its users will be able to download the HBO Max streaming service to Roku devices starting tomorrow, December 17. If you already have the normal HBO app on your Roku device, it will automatically update to become the HBO Max app.

The timing is good for Roku users who were thinking they might need to find another device to use. HBO Max will debut Wonder Woman 1984 on December 25 (the same day it hits theaters), marking the first time the service has added content in 4K, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. Roku users who want to stream HBO Max’s content in all three of these formats will need a 2020 Roku Ultra, or one of the Roku TV models that support them.

Recommended Videos

For those who have not yet signed up as HBO Max subscribers, you can do so directly from the Roku platform using Roku Pay.

Related

The announcement marks the end of a chapter that started earlier this year, when Roku found itself lagging behind other streaming platforms, without apps for either NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service or HBO Max. These omissions may have helped Amazon’s Fire TV platform to outpace Roku in monthly active users in 2020. Roku added Peacock in September, and now it has HBO Max.

“We believe that all entertainment will be streamed, and we are thrilled to partner with HBO Max to bring their incredible library of iconic entertainment brands and blockbuster slate of direct-to-streaming theatrical releases to the Roku households with more than 100 million people that have made Roku the No. 1 TV streaming platform in America,” said Scott Rosenberg, senior vice president of platform business for Roku in a press release. “Reaching mutually beneficial agreements where Roku grows together with our partners is how we deliver an exceptional user experience at an incredible value for consumers, and we are excited by the opportunity to deepen our long-standing relationship with the team at WarnerMedia.”

Roku users can search for the new HBO Max channel or find it in the “New and Notable” and “Movies & TV” categories of the Roku channel store to add it to their Roku home screen.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Simon Cohen
Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Ad-free HBO Max is about to get more expensive
HBO Max app icon on Apple TV.

Price increases aren't exactly unheard of in the streaming space. But HBO Max has seen its monthly rates remain steady since it launched in May 2020. That's finally going to change, though, with the ad-free tier increasing but $1 a month to $16 (plus tax), starting on or after February 11. Existing customers will see the price increase in the first billing cycle after that date — and new subscribers get to enjoy the new price now.

“This price increase of $1 will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” HBO Max said in an e-mailed statement.

Read more
HBO Max is back on Amazon Prime Video Channels
HBO Max on Amazon Prime Video Channels.

After more than a year since disappearing from Amazon Prime Video Channels, HBO Max once again is available for subscription through your Amazon account. The price remains $15 a month, and you'll still have access to all the things you'll find on HBO Max if you subscribe to it directly. And you'll again be able to watch it through the Amazon Prime Video app on whatever device you want.

New this time, however, is that the full HBO Max library is on board, not just the linear (or "live") shows from the various HBO channels. Anything and everything on demand is here, all inside the Amazon Prime Video app.

Read more
Does HBO Max think you’re dumb?
hbo max discount while content cut 1

You can't swing a dead cat in the entertainment space these days without running into a headline about how the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery — which owns HBO Max — has canceled a show that was in the planning stages. Or already was in production. Or had finished production but now will never see the light of day. Or canceled any future episodes or seasons of a strong show. Or left another in limbo. Or killed a weekly news show that was more important than not. Or unceremoniously removed hundreds of episodes from literally the most important children's series in the history of television.

Fine. That's business. The newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly is trying to shave a mere $3 billion off the balance sheet, and cuts of content and people were always going to happen.

Read more