Amazon Fire TV subscribers will finally have access to the HBO Max app. According to Deadline, the WarnerMedia streaming service secured a carriage deal with Amazon, making the app available beginning Tuesday. HBO Max, which debuted in May of this year, had been unavailable for Amazon Fire users for six months. This leaves Roku as the only other major TV streaming service without the app.
According to Deadline, 40 million homes utilize the Amazon Fire TV service for streaming. WarnerMedia seeks to add potential customers to HBO Max’s current 8.6 million, via data as of September 30th. Many HBO Max subscribers were former HBO users who accessed the new app at no extra cost.
“We are very excited that Amazon customers will now be able to enjoy the best-in-class content that lives within HBO Max,” said Tony Goncalves, WarnerMedia’s sales and distribution chief via Deadline. “Our continued goal is to make HBO Max and its unparalleled content available to customers across all the devices they love. Fire TV is favorite among customers and we look forward to working with the Amazon team to engage and grow our existing subscriber base by showcasing all that HBO Max has to offer,” Goncalves said via Deadline.
With the new arrangement, the current HBO app on Amazon Fire TV will be updated to HBO Max, according to Deadline. Subscribers will be able to login with their HBO credentials. New customers can create an account and subscribe to HBO Max directly through the app. And all HBO Max users, regardless of how they signed up, are granted access to the app via Amazon Fire TV.
According to Deadline, VP of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services, Marc Whitten, stated the service had “worked closely with HBO for many years to bring their great content to Fire TV and to make it easier to discover and enjoy with features like search integration, Alexa and personalized recommendations.” “We are excited to continue that partnership with the launch of HBO Max,” Whitten said via Deadline.
According to Deadline, not much else is known about the deal or why it took so long to finalize. Amazon has a history of standing firm during negotiations, as they waited days before launch to announce a deal to carry Disney+ last year. And at a Wall Street Journal conference last month, AT&T CEO John Stankey stated a common difficulty when dealing with digital streaming services.
“We should ask ourselves, is that friction somebody really feeling their oats and maybe having market power above and beyond what’s reasonable for innovation?” Stankey said, via Deadline.