As the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery looks to significantly shift its streaming strategy, HBO Max is reportedly returning to Amazon Prime Video Channels. HBO content had been pulled from Amazon Prime’s ecosystem back in September 2021 following contentious negotiations with HBO Max’s previous corporate overlords AT&T. However, new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is attempting to right some of the wrongs of the previous regime through aggressive spending cuts and refocusing the company’s overall approach to streaming, which had previously put HBO Max at odds with key device providers like Amazon and Roku.
Via Variety:
Business terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. In a statement about the new Prime Video Channels deal, Bruce Campbell, Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief revenue and strategy officer, noted that “Warner Bros. Discovery is committed to making HBO Max available to as broad an audience as possible while also advancing our data-driven approach to understanding our customers and best serving their viewing interests. Today, we are thrilled to take an important step forward by announcing that HBO Max is returning to Prime Video Channels.”
Of course, this news only affects Amazon Prime Video subscribers, which is a pretty sizable audience. According to Variety, HBO Max lost five million subscribers when the content was pulled from Prime Video Channels last year. However, now that the two companies have reached a tentative agreement until the end of 2024, Prime users can once again subscribe to HBO Max through Channels. (Think adding a premium package to your cable service.) That subscription will allow Prime users to access HBO Max content directly through the Prime Video home screen without having to use a separate HBO Max app.
(Via Variety)