WarnerMedia has reached a deal that will bring HBO Max to YouTube TV customers as it tries to promote its upcoming streaming service to as many subscribers as possible.
The media company, which is the parent of CNN, announced the deal on Thursday, adding that HBO and Cinemax content will also be available on YouTube TV for the first time.
This is the first distribution deal for HBO Max. The company added that negotiations with other distribution partners are ongoing.
YouTube TV includes live TV and more than 70 networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN. The service, which costs $49.99 per month, has more than two million subscribers, according to its parent company, Google.
The distribution deal makes sense for HBO Max as it tries to cast a wide net for viewers amid a litany of competitors debuting in the space.
Disney and Apple launched new services in the fall with Disney+ and Apple TV+. NBCUniversal is planning to release its own streaming service, Peacock, later this year and ViacomCBS has said that it will build on the company’s current streaming platform — CBS All Access — by including programming from its family of networks.
“As consumers’ media consumption habits continually evolve and the landscape becomes more and more dynamic, our goal remains constant, and that is to make the portfolio of WarnerMedia networks available as widely as possible,” Rich Warren, president of WarnerMedia Distribution, said in a statement.
HBO Max is set to come online in May with 10,000 hours of content from the company’s large library. That includes HBO series and Warner Bros. films. The service is also the exclusive streaming home to popular sitcoms like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Friends.”
The service will cost $14.99 a month. At that price point, HBO Max costs twice as much as Disney+ and Apple TV+ and more than Netflix’s standard plan, which costs $12.99 per month.
