Introduction
The video streaming service name has changed from HBO Max to Max, but that’s not all that has changed in the service. Max offers a variety of popular TV shows and movies, as well as animated series and anime. Now, the service also includes news and live sports, along with a large library of exciting reality shows from Discovery+. The price has not changed significantly, whether you want to subscribe to the ad-supported plan or the premium plan with an enhanced 4K library. With its wide range of content, Max is a comprehensive video streaming service worthy of your time and money. However, it does fall a bit short compared to some major competitors like Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, and Tubi.
HBO Max vs Max vs Discovery+
There has been a lot of confusion around the naming of HBO Max over the years, due to past services bearing the HBO name. So let’s clarify things. If you are a subscriber to HBO Max or have an HBO subscription through your cable provider, you can use the same login credentials to access Max without changing your subscription or paying any additional fees. You may need to download entirely new apps, and the old HBO Max apps are expected to disappear soon.
What Can You Watch on Max?
The content library of Max is vast and deep. The service combines current and classic TV shows from HBO, original new programs (known as Max Originals), and some shows and movies from other brands like CNN, DC, Looney Tunes, New Line Cinema, Rooster Teeth, the Turner library, and Warner Bros. You can check out an updated list of the streaming content on Max.
Original programs from HBO include titles like Barry, Big Little Lies, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Chernobyl, Deadwood, Game of Thrones, Insecure, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Mare of Easttown, My Brilliant Friend, Oz, Real Time with Bill Maher, Sex and the City, Silicon Valley, Six Feet Under, Succession, The Sopranos, The Wire, Veep, and Watchmen. This exclusive content is the backbone of the service and may be enticing enough to attract subscribers.
Max also includes several other original programs such as the revival of Clone High, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Love and Death starring Elizabeth Olsen, On the Record, Adventure Time: Distant Lands, The Dog House, Doom Patrol, Frayed, and the reboot of Gossip Girls and Perry Mason.
Are these original programs enough to compete with the massive and growing number of originals produced by Netflix and Amazon Prime? Perhaps. Unlike Apple TV+ or the former Quibi, Max can rely on its existing content to attract potential subscribers.
Other shows available on Max include Adam Ruins Everything, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Conan Travel Specials, Rizzoli and Isles, as well as the streaming rights to big shows like Friends, Luther, Rick and Morty, South Park, The Big Bang Theory, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Whose Line Is It Anyway? The Friends series should be particularly interesting for Netflix subscribers who expressed dismay over losing the series. Babylon 5 Remastered is also available to stream on Max.
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the video streaming service without a library of on-demand movies. Max is no exception in this regard, thanks to its partnerships with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros., as well as external content sources like Studio Ghibli and The Criterion Collection. The lineup is constantly changing, but the popular films available on the service at the time of our last review include Blade Runner 2049, Dune, The Fast Saga, Joker, The Matrix, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Ponyo, Shazam!, and Spirited Away.
Warner Bros. showcased over twenty films on Max on the same day they premiered in theaters in the U.S. in 2021, such as Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Matrix Resurrections, and the new Suicide Squad film. However, this did not continue in 2023. For example, The Batman was released in theaters in March, but viewers had to wait until April to watch it on streaming. On the positive side, there will be no extra charges for watching these new Warner Bros. films.
Max also hosts classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Streetcar Named Desire, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, Rebel Without a Cause, and The Wizard of Oz. Movie lovers should check out our curated list of the best movie streaming services and explore options like CuriosityStream and Mubi.
Classic and contemporary animated series also appear on Max, including Adventure Time, Dexter’s Laboratory, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Steven Universe. Over time, we hope that more classic animations will increase their presence on the service.
With Crunchyroll separating from the parent company AT&T or Discovery, Max has not retained all of its anime content. Dedicated anime streaming services offer a much more diverse range of content. Even Netflix and Hulu provide broader libraries of anime content. However, Studio Ghibli films still draw a lot of attention.
Most programs and films from DC Universe were moved to Max, including Stargirl, Titans, and Young Justice. Some of the series currently available on Max include Batman: The Animated Series, Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, and Teen Titans. DC Universe still exists but is now limited to a comic book subscription service only.
The addition of Discovery+ series has significantly expanded Max’s library with cooking shows like Chopped and popular reality shows like 90 Day Fiancé and all the Property Brothers programs you can imagine. With Max, there is a lot to watch.
However, the merger has drastically changed Max’s future. Streaming libraries are constantly changing, as new content is added while older content is removed. However, the controversial current management has scaled back original Max productions, including removing Sesame Street episodes and canceling Batgirl and other films near completion. Even recent HBO programs like Westworld have been removed from Max and sold to free competitors like Tubi.
Live News and Sports on Max
While CNN’s dedicated streaming service may no longer be around, live CNN streaming is still available as part of Max’s new live streaming initiative. Subscribers can watch live news 24/7 in the CNN Max section, which also includes on-demand programs from CNN hosts like Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace. Reports indicate that Max may offer questionable and hackneyed features, such as intersecting what you’re watching with breaking news, and we hope this can be disabled. This is not a replacement for cable, but if you’re looking for live news from one of the biggest names in TV news, CNN on Max is a good option.
Expanding
Max also includes live sports content. One of the new and upcoming ways for Max content is the result of the recent broadcasting deal between Turner Sports (owned by Warner) and the NHL. Under this agreement, TNT and TBS get the rights to broadcast NHL games for 72 games in the regular season and specific postseason series, but more importantly, the streaming rights extend to Max as well. ESPN+ recently announced rights to a significant number of NHL games as well. In January 2023, Max began streaming women’s and men’s soccer matches in the United States under a similar eight-year agreement. Other live sports currently available on Max include MLB baseball, NCAA Men’s basketball, and NCAA Men’s March Madness. Currently, live sports come as part of your subscription. However, starting March 2024, you will need to pay an additional fee for the sports add-on tier costing $9.99 per month.
The number of on-demand streaming services that have expanded into the live sports world has increased over the past few years. For example, Prime Video offers Thursday Night Football and some select Yankees games (Yankees games are only available to New York residents); Paramount+ includes NFL games on Sunday afternoons, PGA Tour events, and college basketball coverage; and Peacock streamed live NFL games last season, along with adding IndyCar racing and WWE content to its lineup. Showtime, now included with Paramount, streams boxing and mixed martial arts events at no additional cost, but some events require separate purchase.
How much does Max cost?
Max offers three plans: an ad-supported plan for $9.99 per month (a recent increase), an ad-free plan for $15.99 per month, and the new Ultimate plan for $19.99 per month. Subscribers to the ad-supported plan cannot download content for offline viewing on mobile devices, stream 4K content, or watch any Warner Bros. movies on the same day. The Ultimate plan increases the number of simultaneous streams from two to four, allows you to download 100 titles for offline viewing, and unlocks a library of over 1,000 movies and TV shows in 4K UHD quality, a significant upgrade over HBO Max. The standard ad-free plan no longer offers 4K programming.
Like Disney+ and Netflix, Max no longer offers a free trial, but you can save money by paying upfront for an annual subscription. The annual subscription cost for the Ultimate plan, ad-free plan, and ad-supported plan are $199.99, $149.99, and $99.99 respectively.
You can subscribe to Max directly, via mobile app stores (App Store and Google Play), through another video streaming service (like Hulu and YouTube TV), or cable and internet partners (including AT&T, DIRECTV, AT&T U-Verse, Spectrum, and Verizon Fios).
The video-on-demand streaming services we reviewed, like Amazon Prime Video ($8.99 per month) and Disney+ ($7.99 per month), cost less than Max, have no ads, and support streaming in 4K quality. The standard Netflix plan (the minimum we recommend) is higher than the ad-supported Max plan at $15.49 per month, but it is ad-free and allows you to download titles for offline viewing. The cheaper ad-supported Netflix plan is lacking in all aspects.
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Ad-supported streaming plans are also cheaper. For example, Hulu and Paramount+ start at $7.99 per month and $5.99 per month, respectively. The ad-supported subscription plan for Discovery+ costs $4.99 per month, while Peacock costs $5.99 per month.
You don’t have to pay for your streaming entertainment. Our selected collection of the best free streaming services includes options with on-demand content and scheduled programming. We highly recommend Tubi as the best service in this category due to its large library of popular shows and movies.
In addition to watching Max on the web browser, you can download Max on mobile devices (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku), Samsung TVs, and gaming consoles (PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X).
Max Web Interface
The Max web interface features a sleek dark design with blue and white accents. The large thumbnails for TV shows and movies stand out and aren’t cluttered on the pages. You can navigate Max via a top menu. The main sections include Originals, Series, Movies, HBO, and New & Notable. At the bottom of the page, there are centers for all other content in the service (like CNN, DC, Food Network, and Studio Ghibli). (Credit: Max)
At the top of the page, you also get a permanent search bar and profile icon. You can search by movie or TV show name, as well as other terms that appear in the title description and details sections (like cast members, directors, and writers). Clicking on your profile icon opens the My List menu, which is a way to organize things you want to watch, and the continue watching sections. Here, you can manage your account and billing details, see which devices are logged in with your credentials, change parental control settings, and switch or edit, or create new profiles. Max allows you to create up to five profiles. By comparison, Disney+ lets you create six profiles.
When you see something on Max that you want to watch, hover over it to add it to your list or to view details. Alternatively, you can simply click on the TV show or movie thumbnail to access its details page. For
Source: https://me.pcmag.com/en/old-video-streaming-services/17129/max
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