HBO Max and AT&T TV Could Potentially Be Integrated, AT&T COO John Stankey Says

At a time when media companies are pulling all the stops to give consumers the best streaming experience, getting a range of content onto one platform is key. And, according to AT&T president and COO John Stankey, the telecom giant will be looking into doing just that for HBO Max and AT&T TV.

During the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Communications conference today, Stankey revealed that integrating the two streaming platforms is a possibility in the future. “What Max and AT&T TV have in common is they are both software based, independent of any proprietary hardware, allowing customers to get access content over any device, over any hardware platform,” he stated.

“You want a platform that can distribute both. So AT&T being software driven, HBO Max being software driven, user interface capabilities, bundling, price start to move together. I think we’re at a very natural place to see that begin to occur and our TV business and our SVOD business start to become one as we get out over the next couple of years.”

During the conference, Stankey also revealed HBO Max will be available on “virtually all app stores or maybe one exception.” That one exception might be Amazon Fire TV devices. “It looks like we may not be in the Amazon Fire App Store when is all said is done.”

HBO NOW is thought to be the most popular service offered via Amazon Prime Video Channels, but it comes at a cost. It has been reported that Amazon keeps 30 percent of subscription revenue every month, which makes it an expensive channel of distribution. In 2018, TDG estimated that nearly 53 percent of HBO’s direct-to-consumer subscribers came from Amazon Channels.

At a 30 percent monthly nut, it is probably too expensive for HBO to continue dolling out the cash — which may mean that HBO Max won’t be on Amazon Fire TV, at least right away.