HBO Max is coming to Europe and Latin America in the second half of 2021 where it will supplant existing HBO streaming services, with double the amount of content and presumably 4K HDR support.
HBO Max international launch
HBO Max was launched in the US in May 2020 with movies and series from HBO, Warner Bros, New Line, and other studios. At the time, WarnerMedia made it clear that HBO Max is intended as a global competitor to Netflix.
The international expansion will start in the second half of 2021 with the launch of HBO Max in Europe and Latin America. The news was announced by Andy Forssell, head of HBO Max Global, at a virtual conference in Lisbon.
Forssell said that "HBO will be upgrading existing direct-to-consumer HBO services in Europe to HBO Max, which equates to doubling the amount of content and adding in many more capabilities". He did not comment on pricing.
- "By the end of the year both of those regions will be very active," he said.
4K HDR streaming
HBO Max will for the first time offer content in 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos later this month with the premiere of Wonder Woman 1984. Although not confirmed, we would expect 4K HDR streaming to be supported in Europe and Latin America too. In related news, the company also announced plans to debut all 17 of its movies planned for 2021 simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the US, with 4K HDR.
WarnerMedia is planning to have HBO Max operate in 190 countries and compete with Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and Apple TV+.
- "It's just a matter of how fast we can do that," said Andy Forssell.
The coronavirus pandemic has given streaming services at large a major boost but also delayed or brought production in many areas of the world to a complete halt. Forssell said that some original HBO Max shows that were scheduled to enter production in March 2020 are only just now going into production.
HBO Max is currently available on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon FireTV, select Samsung TVs, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Chromecast, and AirPlay.
- Source: HBO Max
