HBO Max Finally Launching in the UK, Tangled Up With Sky

After years of waiting, HBO Max has confirmed it’s launching in the UK and Ireland on Thursday, March 26 – complete with pricing details, a surprisingly affordable entry point, and availability through Sky, Prime Video, and direct subscription.

At a press event in London this morning, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled the details we’ve been waiting for since the service was first confirmed for a UK launch over a year ago.

The headline news – four entertainment tiers starting at just £4.99 per month, TNT Sports integration, and wide availability.

But scratch beneath the surface, and there’s some potential confusion. For years, UK viewers have associated HBO with Sky. That’s where you watched Game of Thrones, Succession, and The Last of Us.

And despite this launch, that’s not really changing. For better or worse, HBO and Sky are finding it remarkably hard to cut the cord (pun intended) from each other.

The Basics: What You’re Getting and What It Costs

Let’s start with the straightforward stuff. HBO Max launches on March 26 with – count them – four monthly entertainment plans:

Basic with Ads costs £4.99 per month and gets you streaming on two devices in Full HD.

You’ll get HBO’s prestige dramas, Warner Bros films, and the back catalogue – but not the newest blockbuster movies that arrive after their theatrical run. No downloads (for offline viewing on your mobile / tablet) either.

Standard with Ads is £5.99 per month, also two devices in Full HD, but this tier includes those brand-new theatrical releases and up to 30 downloads per month.

This is probably the sweet spot for most people who don’t mind occasional adverts (but limiting the number of episodes/films you can download is a very unusual limitation).

Standard jumps to £9.99 per month for an ad-free experience with the same two devices, Full HD, 30 downloads, and all the newest films.

Premium costs £14.99 per month and gives you the full works – four devices, 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos where available, 100 downloads, and everything ad-free.

Then there’s TNT Sports at £30.99 per month as a standalone plan, or you can add it to Standard with Ads, Standard, or Premium (More on TNT Sports in a moment.)

Compared to Netflix (where the ad-supported tier costs £5.99, Standard is £12.99, and Premium is £18.99), HBO Max is positioning itself as the slightly more affordable premium option.

What’s Actually On HBO Max?

The content library is impressive, as long as you haven’t been watching HBO shows on Sky for years.

At launch, you’ll get the complete first season of Emmy and Golden Globe-winning medical drama The Pitt, with season two episodes rolling out weekly. All seasons of Euphoria will be available ahead of the highly anticipated third season arriving in April.

The full HBO back catalogue means Succession, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wire – all the classics that made HBO’s reputation.

Coming later this year – Lanterns, the DC Green Lantern series premiering summer 2026, and eventually the upcoming Harry Potter TV series that’s been in development.

For films, subscribers will get access to 2026’s biggest releases including Superman, One Battle After Another (the Oscar-nominated epic), Sinners, A Minecraft Movie, and Dune.

At the press event, JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, was quite clear about HBO Max’s positioning.

They’re very aware they’re “late to the party” compared to Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount+. But he sees this as a “later mover advantage” – they’ve watched what works and what doesn’t.

More importantly, Perrette repeatedly emphasised that HBO Max will NOT be trying to offer “something for everyone” – a dig at Netflix’s approach, perhaps. Instead, the HBO name will continue to mean quality over quantity.

It’s a premium brand, and they want to keep it that way.

TNT Sports Moves House

From March 26, TNT Sports finds a new streaming home on the HBO Max app in the UK, leaving Discovery+ behind.

This brings Premier League football, the FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Grand Slam tennis, Tour de France cycling, MotoGP, the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028  and much more under one roof.

The pricing remains unchanged at £30.99 per month – which caused quite a stir when it was increased last year, particularly among cycling and tennis fans who felt forced to pay for football they don’t watch.

TNT Sports will continue to be available through existing partners like EE/BT, Sky, Virgin Media, and O2.

For Discovery+, this leaves the platform in rather a lonely position. It keeps the entertainment and factual content – your Discovery Channel documentaries, TLC reality shows, Animal Planet programming – but loses the sports content.

This aligns with Warner Bros. Discovery’s corporate split, where the Discovery networks side is becoming a separate company (Discovery Global) while the studios and streaming business (including HBO Max) moves forward independently – and potentially into Netflix’s hands if that acquisition goes through.

The Sky Situation: It’s Complicated

This is where things get potentially confusing for consumers.

Sky and NOW subscribers are getting HBO Max Basic with Ads bundled into their existing subscriptions from March 26 at no extra cost – exactly as promised in the deal announced back in December 2024.

If you’re a Sky Stream, Sky Glass customer with Sky Ultimate TV, or a Sky Q customer, HBO Max Basic with Ads is included.

NOW Entertainment subscribers will automatically be switched to an “Entertainment & HBO Max” membership that includes the Basic tier.

This sounds brilliant – free HBO Max with your Sky subscription… But let’s look at what that actually means.

Sky subscribers get the Basic with Ads tier. That’s the £4.99 option with adverts and, notably, without the newest blockbuster films that premiere on the service after their theatrical window.

You also can’t download anything for offline viewing on that tier (in fact, it almost sounds like the ‘Basic’ £4.99 tier was invented for Sky customers’ sake, to differentiate it from the ‘Standard’ £5.99 tier).

However, if you’re also a Sky Cinema subscriber, you’ll still get those newest Warner Bros films through Sky Cinema separately.

So someone with Sky Ultimate and Sky Cinema (or NOW Entertainment and NOW Cinema – both currently available together for £8.99/month for a year) will have access to all the content, just split across different apps with adverts on the HBO Max side. 

It’s unclear whether Sky subscribers will be able to upgrade directly within Sky’s ecosystem – paying the difference to jump to Standard or Premium HBO Max, similar to how they can with Paramount+ and Netflix. I’ve reached out to Sky for clarification on this.

Then there’s the question of which shows appear where. HBO series that “started” on Sky – Euphoria, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, and others – will have their newest seasons airing on Sky Atlantic simultaneously with HBO Max.

But if you want to catch up on past seasons, you’ll need HBO Max (which Sky subscribers are getting anyway, but still).

No wonder Warner Bros Discovery keeps putting The Pitt front and centre in their launch marketing – apart from being a popular award-winning series, it’s one of the only shows they can currently name that hasn’t been on Sky before.

When someone watches the new episode of The Last of Us next year and discusses it at the office watercooler, will they say “I watched it on HBO Max” or “I watched it on Sky”?

For years, UK viewers have associated HBO with Sky. That mental connection is incredibly strong. And this deal seems designed to preserve that association rather than break it.

Perrette explained the partnership by saying they’re happy “to fish where the fish are” – if Sky can offer them a large number of interested customers, why not work with them? It’s pragmatic business sense.

He used the Olympics as an example. Even though some Olympic coverage was available on the BBC, viewers who wanted everything and wanted to keep it simple still went with TNT Sports.

The implication – people who want ALL of HBO Max will subscribe directly.

But will they? If you’re a casual viewer who doesn’t mind adverts and you can get NOW Entertainment (currently available for £4.99 per month on an annual plan) with HBO Max Basic included, why would you bother with a separate HBO Max subscription?

HBO Max might struggle to establish itself as an independent brand in the UK market. The Sky partnership gives them instant access to millions of subscribers, which is undoubtedly valuable.

But it also means HBO content remains, in many consumers’ minds, “that stuff on Sky” rather than “that HBO Max streaming service.”

For Sky’s part, they’re still heavily dependent on third-party content for much of their appeal.

Yes, they’re investing in Sky Originals – shows like Gangs of London, The Day of the Jackal, and their upcoming slate of dramas. But HBO’s prestige programming remains a significant draw.

And here’s the uncomfortable question neither company wants to dwell on – what happens to this cosy arrangement if and when the Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros goes through?

The Netflix Question

Speaking of which, we should probably address the elephant in the room. By this time next year, it’s entirely possible that none of this will look the same.

As we’ve covered extensively, Netflix agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and streaming business (including HBO Max) back in December.

Paramount Skydance immediately launched a hostile counter-bid worth £77bn for the entire company. The battle is ongoing, with a shareholder vote expected in April.

At today’s press event, Perrette couldn’t say much about the acquisition situation – understandably, given the legal complexities and ongoing negotiations.

But he did note that Netflix has “a lot of respect for HBO and what it means” – suggesting they’d likely want to preserve the brand and what it represents.

That makes sense. HBO is one of the most prestigious names in television. Netflix acquiring it and immediately dissolving the brand would be like buying Rolex and rebranding it as “Netflix Watches.”

But even if the HBO Max name survives, the service might not exist as a standalone platform for long. Netflix could integrate HBO content into its main service, possibly as a premium tier or add-on.

They could keep HBO Max running separately for a transition period before eventually absorbing it. And then who knows what happens with the Sky deal.

The point is – anyone signing up for HBO Max today should do so for the content they want to watch now, not with any expectation that the service will look the same in 12 months.

Prime Video Gets In On The Action

In another partnership announced today, HBO Max will be available through Prime Video Channels in the UK – though only the Basic with Ads, Standard with Ads, and Standard tiers. Premium isn’t available through Prime Video.

This gives Amazon customers another way to access HBO content without leaving the Prime Video app, similar to how they can currently add Discovery+ or Paramount+ as channels.

TNT Sports, which is also available on the Prime Video Channel, remains a separate subscription option.

Platform Availability

HBO Max will be available on pretty much everything – Android, iOS, Fire TV, Roku, Samsung, LG, PlayStation, Xbox, EE/BT TV, Virgin TV, and more.

You can create up to five personalised profiles, get tailored recommendations, use Continue Watching, and, depending on your plan, download content for offline viewing. There are kid-friendly profiles with parental controls.

Pre-registration opens on the App Store and Google Play from March 12, ahead of the March 26 launch.

After years of waiting, HBO Max is (almost) here. Whether it can establish itself as a genuine competitor to Netflix and Disney+ – or whether it remains forever tangled up with Sky in UK consumers’ minds – we’ll find out soon enough.

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