Warner’s Streaming Service Will Include HBO and Cinemax
An already crowded streaming video marketplace will get even more crowded when WarnerMedia introduces its own service in the fourth quarter of 2019. Against competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ — which begins offering an extensive library of Disney and Fox titles on November 12 — Warner will try to stand out by offering more channels at a higher price.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (via Variety), Warner’s still-unnamed streaming site will not just include Warner Bros. content, it will also include HBO and Cinemax shows and movies. As a result, it will cost more per month than most of the other services mentioned above:
The AT&T-owned media company is looking to launch the still-unnamed WarnerMedia subscription VOD service at a price point of $16-$17 per month and is likely to bundle together HBO and Cinemax along with Warner Bros. TV shows and movies, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing anonymous sources. That would make WarnerMedia’s SVOD service slightly higher than the standalone HBO Now ($14.99 monthly), and pricier than Netflix’s standard two-stream HD plan ($12.99), Showtime ($10.99) and Hulu’s VOD packages ($5.99 with ads; $11.99 without) — and more than double Disney Plus, slated for a Nov. 12 launch at an aggressive $6.99 per month price.
A streaming service that gives you HBO and Cinemax and a ton of great classic Warner Bros. titles stretching back to the Golden Age of Hollywood is pretty enticing. But will it be enticing enough to pay almost $20 a month on top of what you’re already paying for Netflix and Hulu and whatever other subscriptions you have? Or will it be enticing enough to get you to cancel something else to pick Warners in its place?
That’s the big question. It’s a lot easier to convince yourself that you can spend another $7 a month for a Disney+ than more than twice that amount. There’s just not enough time in a day to watch all this content people are paying for. And so choices are going to start to be made.
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