HBO Max has set premiere dates for the second wave of its ‘Max Originals’ beyond the first which launches with the service on May 27th, the new schedule arriving as a lot more details about the SVOD service have appeared.
June 25th is the big date with the second season of “Doom Patrol,” the third season of “Search Party” and the first of the “Adventure Time: Distant Lands” specials all premiering. The service is pushing out all its new content on Thursdays rather than Fridays which is the day when Disney+ and Netflix tend to release their new content.
In terms of new shows and films there’s “Karma” on June 18th; the three-part Amy Schumer doco series “Expecting Amy Schumer” and the animated “Close Enough” on July 9th; the docoseries “The House of Ho” on July 16th; the animated “Tig n’ Seek” on July 23rd; the docoseries “The Dog House” and the Aussie drama “Frayed” on July 30th; and the Seth Rogen-led comedy feature “American Pickle” on August 6th.
In addition, a pilot production order (plus five additional scripts) has been given for a potential series based on the classic 1980s ABC sitcom “Head of the Class”. The new version follows a group of overachieving high school students who meet their greatest challenge – a teacher who wants them to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.
Variety has also published a new in-depth piece about the service. CCO Kevin Reilly says the aim is to provide “a wide-ranging and consistent flow of high-quality programming across all genres”. AT&T has pledged to invest $4 billion in HBO Max over the next three years, the investment seen as the biggest bet to date made by AT&T since its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner.
The aim is for HBO Max be both a platform for globally distributing WarnerMedia content and for bundling subscriptions to AT&T’s wireless and data services. However the pandemic has handed the service some set backs, including more than 30 original projects which have been suspended due to the shutdown.
The piece reveals the ‘slightly higher than the competition’ price point of $14.99 had to be adopted because going much lower would leave HBO in breach of its traditional MVPD carriage agreements – those agreements still generate most of the premium cabler’s revenue.
Existing HBO customers will get HBO Max as an add-on at no extra charge and that allows the new service to start immediately off with a whole bunch of subscribers in place. Indeed, the infrastructure for HBO Max has apparently been built on the back of the existing HBO Now streaming platform rather than starting from scratch.
Those running the service are said to have been very hands-on with development on new shows, much more so than say Netflix who are relatively hands off, and some have reportedly found it grating. However, others have appreciated it and say “they are making art there… it’s not bad. They care about what they are doing.”
WarnerMedia reportedly has some 45,000 hours of programming available in its vault, but will launch with roughly 10,000 hours of carefully curated library content including films from Warner Bros., Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection; Warner Bros. Television sitcoms; grown-up animation from Adult Swim; and the entirety of HBO.
WarnerMedia also expects to add technical features and applications to HBO Max every six to eight weeks after launch and is preparing to slowly introduce HBO Max in overseas markets.
