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Curious about HBO Max? From hit movies and documentaries to comedy specials and more, the streaming giant has enough content to keep everyone in the household entertained. Keep reading to learn more about HBO Max, including membership plans, pricing and how to get a free trial.
What Is HBO Max?
HBO Max is the streaming platform launched by Warner Bros in 2020. The platform, which replaced HBO Go, gained a massive following during the beginning of the pandemic, namely because every 2021 Warner Bros. movie arrived on HBO Max the same day as its theater release. HBO Max has grown to more than 73 million subscribers (and counting).
What to Watch on HBO Max
Whether you love television, movies or blend of both, HBO Max has the kind of streaming library tailer-made for binge watchers. Some of the new releases to hit HBO Max this month include Kimi, a mind-bending thriller starring Zoe Kravitz, The Girl Before – a limited series starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo and The Restless Billionaire, a documentary about financier Carl Icahn, which was released on Tuesday (Feb. 15).
You can also stream Euphoria, And Just Like That, Gossip Girl, Station Eleven, The Fallout, Succession, Peacemaker, The Flight Attendant, The White Lotus, Raised by Wolves, Landscapers, The Gilded Age, and other HBO and HBO Max originals on the platform.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Real Time with Bill Maher are on HBO Max as well as numerous movies, classic episodes of beloved sitcoms like The Nanny, The Fresh-Prince of Bel-Air and Friends, along with kid-approved and family-friendly shows such as Sesame Street, Head of the Class, Aquaman King of Atlantis and Looney Tunes Cartoons.
How Much Does HBO Max Cost?
HBO Max has expanded into two subscription tiers: ad-supported and commercial free. The platform also introduced a free tier last year which only allows you to watch certain episodes. HBO Max’s paid subscriptions start at $9.99 ($99.99 a year) for ad-supported streaming, or $14.99 a month ($149.99 a year) to watch ad free. Both streaming plans let you enjoy over 13,000 hours of entertainment, exclusive access to 2022 Warner Bros. movies, all your HBO favorites — and you can stream from up to five different profiles which is great if there are multiple people in your household.
What’s only available on the ad-free plan? With HBO Max’s commercial free plan users can stream certain movies in 4K, download content to watch offline and stream from other countries.
Does HBO Max Offer a Free Trial?
Unfortunately, HBO Max does not offer free trials but the streaming giant has previously announced deals like last month’s 20% discount. You never know when HBO Max will launch another streaming deal but there are ways to go about getting HBO Max for free.
You may already have HBO Max for free through your cable provider or another subscription. If you’re not sure, click here to find out if you already have access to HBO Max. Otherwise, you can score a free trail to HBO Max through Hulu, Verizon and Direct TV Stream.
Hulu subscribers can add HBO Max as an additional channel for $14.99 a month (in addition to Hulu’s $6.99 monthly subscription) after a free seven-day trial.
Another way to land a free one-week trial? Sing up for HBO Max through Verizon to receive a free trial for seven days. Direct TV Stream also offers free HBO Max, depending on the plan you choose.
The Choice plan, for example, gets you free HBO Max, Showtime, Starz, Epix and Cinemax for the first three months of your subscription, along with 90+ live channels and local TV stations, 45,000 on-demand channels and unlimited cloud DVR recording for $89.99 a month.
The Ultimate plan (104.99 a month) includes a free, three-month trial to HBO Max as well as everything in the cheaper tier, plus over 125 live and local channels. Direct TV Stream’s Premier package ($149.99 a month) includes HBO Max, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax, over 140 live channels and local TV stations, 65,000 on-demand titles, unlimited DVR recording, regional sports networks and free Epix for the first three months.
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