HBO Max kicks of European expansion with Spain, Nordics & Andorra

26 Oct 2021 | Rasmus Larsen |

HBO Max is now available in Andorra, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Spain, and Sweden across many TV platforms and with support for 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

HBO Max in Europe

HBO Max is entering Europe with an aggressive launch campaign where new customers can get "50% off the monthly price for the lifetime of their subscription".

HBO Max launch

Country	Regular Offering Monthly Rate	Promo Offering Monthly Rate	% Discount
Sweden	SEK 89.00	SEK 44.50	50%
Norway	NOK 89.00	NOK 44.50	50%
Finland	EUR 8.99	EUR 4.49	50%
Denmark	DKK 79.00	DKK 39.50	50%
Spain	EUR 8.99	EUR 4.49	50%

FlatpanelsHD

- "HBO Max is now live in six European territories, with 21 more to come in 2022," said Christina Sulebakk, General Manager, HBO Max EMEA. "As well as bringing together the very best entertainment, movies, kids programming and original series on one streaming platform available on every screen, we are offering customers outstanding value with a once in a lifetime promotion in addition to a new annual subscription, making it easy for customers to enjoy everything they love." HBO Max is supported on most popular TV platforms including Android TV, Apple TV (tvOS), Chromecast, LG Smart TV (2018+), Samsung Smart TV (2016+), PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series.

HBO Max supports Apple TV app integration – but its not a 'channel'. Photo: Flatpanels

As part of the HBO Max launch in Europe, Warner Bros is reducing the theatrical window for its latest blockbuster movies to 45 days starting this year in the Nordics, and from next year in Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Greece, Iceland and Central and Eastern Europe.

Improved video/audio streaming quality

HBO Max replaces HBO Nordic and HBO Spain, and offers much improved streaming quality. FlatpanelsHD's initial tests reveal that some titles in 1080p are now encoded with HEVC at 6-10 Mbps video bitrate as compared to 3.5 Mbps (MPEG4 AVC) on HBO Nordic / HBO Spain. 4K streaming on HBO Max in Europe comes in at 16-22 Mbps (HEVC) for average video bitrate, with peaks exceeding 30 Mbps, according to our sample tests. Dolby Atmos is also available for some titles. New movies are encoded in the original 23.976fps format but many series, including Game of Thrones, are converted to 25fps (speed-up) in Europe, which is unfortunate. The following titles are available in 4K HDR (in the Nordics): - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition - Godzilla vs. Kong - Mortal Kombat - No Sudden Move - Reminiscence - The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - The Matrix - The Matrix Reloaded - The Matrix Revolutions - Wonder Woman (2017) - Zack Snyder’s Justice League - Zack Snyder's Justice League: Justice is Gray In 2022, HBO Max will launch in the following territories as part of a phased global roll-out: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey. HBO Max is planning to be present in 190 territories by 2026.