Max — the streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery — maybe isn’t the first one you think of when it comes to live sports. But that might need to start to change, given its Bleacher Report add-on and the fact that it makes up one-third of an upcoming live sports mega-streamer.
And here’s another reason, at least if you’re the sort who cares about picture quality features: Max will offer live sports in the Dolby Vision standard. If you’re not yet familiar (and it is OK if you aren’t), Dolby Vision is one of the HDR standards by which supported televisions can show brighter brights, darker darks, and more colorful colors. There are a few flavors of high dynamic range and Dolby Vision — which is a proprietary standard that has to be licensed — is generally believed to be the leader at this point.
“We know how crucial it is for sports fans to have a top-notch live video player experience so they can truly engage with the action,” said Sudheer Sirivara, Executive Vice President, Global Technology, Warner Bros. Discovery. “We’re excited to launch this industry-first feature and bring fans even closer to the game.”
The list of devices on which Max supports Dolby Vision includes Amazon Fire TV, Android TVs, Apple TV 4K, Cox Contour 2 and Contour Stream Player, Chromecast Ultra, Chromecast with Google TV, LG smart TVs, iPhone and iPad, Roku devices, Vizio televisions, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, Comcast Xfinity X1 and Flex.
That pretty much covers the gamut, and just in time for events like the NBL All-Star Game. You’ll also find more than five dozen regular-season NBA and NHL games, plus the NHL Winter Classic and more. Again, you’ll need the Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which originally was to be free until March and $10 a month after that. But Max has extended that trial “for a few more months.”
