After months of waiting, HBO Max has now arrived on Roku. In spite of launching in May, it has taken up until December for the new streaming service to make its way to the popular Roku platform. While good news for consumers, the change came when it suited HBO Max, and not consumers themselves.
HBO Max did launch with a varied level of device support, although both Amazon Fire TV and Roku were missing. With these two platforms absent, a significant number of consumers in the United States were excluded from streaming HBO Max, unless they opted to use a different device. Amazon’s Fire TV eventually gained its support in November, leaving Roku the only major platform still missing.
HBO Max is now available to download and stream on Roku devices, the day after HBO Max gained PlayStation 5 support. Although it has taken up until December to finally arrive on the Roku platform, the timing is unlikely to be a coincidence. HBO Max is expecting a big viewing month in December with Wonder Woman 1984 set to become available to stream on Christmas Day, kickstarting a year of Warner Bros.’s movies that will release on the streaming service at the same time as they become available in theaters.
The availability of HBO Max on Roku is likely to help the streaming service increase viewership during what it hopes will be one of its busier times. In this sense, the app support has arrived when it best suited HBO Max. Regardless of this, for those that have been eagerly awaiting HBO Max on Roku, the time has come.
Downloading HBO Max on Roku
To get started, open the Roku Channel Store on the device, search for “HBO Max” and download the channel. It should also be visible in the “New and Notable” section, avoiding the need to search at all. Alternatively, Roku users can also send the HBO Max channel to their device by heading to the Roku page listing, signing in and adding the channel.
Of course, having access to a HBO Max app is only one part of the equation. This is a subscription-based service and one that costs $14.99 per month. Consumers do have some options to save on the cost of a subscription, so long as they are willing to pay extra now. For example, HBO Max is currently running a promotion where subscribers can secure a subscription for 20-percent less than usual. However, it does require the consumer to commit to six months and pay for those months in advance, with no free trial or refund option.
Providing an individual knows they will remain subscribed to HBO Max for at least half a year, then the six-month promotion is worth taking advantage of. Otherwise, they may be better off simply paying the higher monthly rate and retaining the option to cancel at any time.
While HBO Max itself no longer offers a free trial, requiring the first month to be paid in advance, there still may be some options available to test the service for free, depending on the user’s existing subscriptions. For example, YouTube TV offers HBO Max as an add-on, along with a seven-day free trial.
Source: Roku Channel Store
