AT&T Says It's Pulling HBO From Amazon Channels

By
( )
last updated

Company still expects to have 70-73 million HBO/HBO Max subs by year end

Kate Winslet in HBO's 'Mare of Easttown'
Kate Winslet in HBO's 'Mare of Easttown' (Image credit: Michele K. Short/HBO)

AT&T said that it will no longer offer HBO as a subscription via Amazon Channels.

The cutoff is coming during the third quarter, AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said Tuesday at the Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications conference.

Desroches said the Amazon move was  a “strategic decision” made by its WarnerMedia unit. WarnerMedia wants to focus on HBO Max and is trying to convert its HBO subscribers to the newer direct-to-consumer streaming service.

WarnerMedia announced plans last year to no longer offer HBO Max via Amazon Prime Video Channels. HBO Max was removed from the channel store earlier this month, according to published reports.

AT&T is in the process of spinning off WarnerMedia and selling it to Discovery.

AT&T expects that taking HBO out of Amazon Channels will have an impact on HBO Max/HBO domestic subscribers in the third quarter, but that effect has already been considered while compiling the company’s global subscriber guidance for the full year.

Desroches reiterated the recently raised guidance that it expects to have between 70 million and 73 million global HBO and HBO Max subscribers by the end of the year.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.