Existing HBO Max Subscriptions Through Prime Video Channels to Be Canceled on September 15th
Following the departure of HBO Max as a new offering from Amazon’s Prime Video Channels early last month, comes word that existing HBO Max subscriptions through the platform will be canceled effective Sept. 15.
Readers were notified of the change by email on Friday, which The Streamable was able to confirm.
We knew this was in the works. The move had been originally announced in November 2020, though the exact timing did not become clear until early August.
HBO Max viewers are advised to sign up directly for the service in order to continue enjoying HBO Max. Alternatively, they can sign-up via a third-party like Hulu, which includes a 7-Day Free Trial to Hulu.
Last year, Amazon said more than 5 million HBO subscribers received the service through Prime Video Channels, which HBO Max will now need to re-acquire. The move came only a few days following a similar move that plucked HBO from the Apple TV Channels option.
Why didn’t WarnerMedia break free from Amazon entirely when they launched HBO Max? You may remember that when HBO Max debuted, it wasn’t available on Amazon’s Fire TV devices. After a six-month stalemate, WarnerMedia extended their Amazon Web Services (AWS) contract in order to get HBO Max on Fire TV. As part of all these negotiations, HBO kept its legacy content available as a Prime Video channel, although you needed to log into HBO Max to see any of those service’s exclusives.
After the stalemate ended, the HBO app on Fire TV and Fire tablets automatically became the HBO Max app.
This process of HBO Max emancipation has taken longer than you might expect. As recently as 2020, Prime Video subscribers had free access to older HBO shows. That meant that even if you didn’t subscribe to HBO, you could watch episodes of “The Sopranos,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Veep,” “Sex and the City,” and “The Wire.” In May of that year, those episodes disappeared.
Amazon Prime Video also provided a brief loophole, since you could use it to get a free trial of HBO Max, even after HBO Max killed off that offer for new subscribers directly through their platform in December.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.