Aero Freely Box Finally Gets HBO Max And New Features

One of the most requested apps for the Manhattan Aero is finally on its way – HBO Max arrives on the Freely box this Thursday, June 11.

It’s a big addition. It brings HBO’s back catalogue – from Game of Thrones and The Sopranos through to Succession and The White Lotus – along with the Warner Bros. film library and, for sports fans, TNT Sports, all sitting in the same place as Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video on Manhattan’s £89.99 box.

It also fills one of the more obvious gaps the Aero has had since launch.

It’s not the only news this week, either. Manhattan has also resumed the rollout of its v19 software update – the one it paused in May after some users reported their Aero waking from standby on its own.

The revised version is now out, and I’ll cover what it brings further down. But the headline is HBO Max, so let’s start there.

A Quick Reminder: What Is The Aero?

If you’re new to all this, the Aero is Manhattan’s standalone Freely streaming box. Freely is Everyone TV’s platform – the organisation behind Freeview and Freesat – and it delivers live TV and seven days of catch-up entirely over your broadband connection, with no aerial required.

The Aero runs TiVo OS alongside Freely, which means you get BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, and 60-plus other live channels in a unified guide, plus a selection of streaming apps on top.

There’s no monthly fee for any of the core functionality.

It launched in February at £69.99 and now costs £89.99, following a price rise driven by component costs affecting much of the industry. Even at the higher price, it remains the most affordable way onto Freely if recording isn’t something you need.

You can read my full Aero review for the complete picture, but the one-line version is that I gave it an Editor’s Choice – with the missing apps being the main thing holding it back. Which brings us neatly to HBO Max.

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HBO Max Is Flying In

HBO Max is Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service, and it launched in the UK on March 26, 2026. For years, UK viewers thought of HBO as something that lived on Sky Atlantic. HBO Max changes that, offering a direct way to watch HBO here without going through Sky.

The back catalogue is the obvious draw, and it’s a deep one – box-set landmarks like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, more recent prestige dramas such as Succession and The White Lotus, and newer originals like the multi-award-winning medical drama The Pitt.

All ten seasons of Friends are there too, having moved over from Netflix.

It isn’t only television. HBO Max is also home to the Warner Bros. film library, so a night in could mean The Dark Knight, Dune, Barbie, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The timing is good, as it happens. House of the Dragon returns for its third season on June 22, which means anyone with an Aero and an HBO Max subscription can watch the biggest returning show of the month on the box from day one.

How Much Does HBO Max Cost?

HBO Max has four monthly tiers if you subscribe directly:

• Basic with Ads – £4.99/month. Full HD, two streams, no downloads, with adverts. The newest theatrical releases aren’t included.
• Standard with Ads – £5.99/month. Adds 30 downloads a month and the newest Warner Bros. films, still with adverts.
• Standard – £9.99/month. The same as Standard with Ads, but ad-free.
• Premium – £14.99/month. Ad-free, 4K Ultra HD, four simultaneous streams, and 100 downloads a month.

There are other ways in as well – Sky, NOW, EE TV and Prime Video Channels all carry HBO Max in one form or another, each with their own pricing and quirks.

Our full HBO Max UK guide breaks down every route if you want to work out which makes the most sense for you.

TNT Sports On The Aero

HBO Max is now also the UK streaming home of TNT Sports, which moved over from Discovery+ when HBO Max launched.

That means the same app on your Aero can bring you live sport – Champions League and Premier League football, the FA Cup, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, snooker, Grand Slam tennis, and more.

It’s worth being clear that TNT Sports is a separate plan rather than part of the standard HBO Max subscription, and at £30.99/month it isn’t cheap.

But for an Aero owner who also wants live sport, the fact that it now sits in the same box as your free Freely channels is a meaningful addition – and not something that was possible on the Aero before this week.

How To Get It On Your Aero

From Thursday, the HBO Max app will appear on the Aero. If you already have an HBO Max account, you simply sign in with it and you’re away. If you don’t, it’s there as an option to add if and when you want it.

Of course, the Aero is still built around the idea of great television without a monthly TV contract – Freely, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube and TiVo+ are all there with no subscription.

HBO Max simply gives you another big-name paid option on your own terms, alongside the other streaming apps the Aero already offers.

What’s Still Missing

HBO Max closes one of the bigger gaps in the Aero’s app lineup, but it doesn’t close all of them. Sky’s NOW, Paramount+ and Apple TV still don’t have apps on the Aero.

The one piece of good news here is that I understand work is still being done to bring NOW to the Aero later this year. There’s no confirmed date that I’m aware of, so treat it as something on the way rather than something to count on – but it is apparently coming.

For Paramount+ and Apple TV, the workaround remains Prime Video Channels. Both are available as add-ons within Prime Video, so if you have a Prime Video subscription, you can access them through that app on the Aero – albeit via Amazon’s version of the subscription rather than a dedicated app.

The v19 Software Update Resumes

Now to that second piece of news. Separate from the HBO Max app – which is a TiVo addition rather than part of Manhattan’s own software – the Aero’s v19 software update has resumed rolling out.

Manhattan first began pushing v19 in May, but paused it after some owners reported their Aero waking from standby unexpectedly.

In most cases this only happened with HDMI-CEC enabled, where the Aero could then also wake the connected TV. The fix is now included in the revised build, v19.1021.201, which started rolling out on June 9.

Here’s what the update brings:

Auto Frame Rate – automatically switches the Aero’s HDMI output between 50 Hz and 60 Hz to match what you’re watching, reducing the subtle motion judder you can get when British 25fps content is forced into a 60 Hz output. It’s off by default, under Settings -> Display settings.

CEC Volume Control – lets the Aero’s remote control the volume on your TV, soundbar or AV receiver over HDMI-CEC, so you’re not juggling two remotes. Off by default, and compatibility varies by TV.

Standby When Inactive – a new setting that lets you disable the Aero’s existing automatic 20-minute standby. On by default, so nothing changes unless you want it to.

TiVo+ carousel – a new strip of free, live TiVo+ content on the Home screen.

Navigation sounds – optional audio feedback as you move around the interface, set to Low by default and adjustable or off entirely.

Improved sports search, plus various stability and performance fixes.

And, importantly, the revised build resolves the standby-wake issue that prompted the pause.

Everyone receives v19.1021.201, whether your Aero already took the earlier v19 release or is still on the previous software.

Once your box detects it, you’ll be asked if you want to install – it then downloads in the background and installs the next time the Aero goes into standby.

Updates roll out in stages, so if yours doesn’t appear straight away, leave it connected to the internet and in standby when you’re not using it. You can check your version under Settings -> System.

Where That Leaves The Aero

When the Aero’s price climbed to £89.99, the gap to the £99 Netgem Pleio narrowed to around £9, and one of the Pleio’s clearer advantages was that it already had HBO Max. That advantage has now gone.

The Aero still isn’t the one-box-for-everything device some people want – NOW, Paramount+ and Apple TV are still on the outside looking in – but with HBO Max and TNT Sports now on board, it covers a lot more ground than it did at launch.

For a subscription-free Freely box that you can plug in and forget, it’s a stronger proposition this week than it was last.

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