Updated 7/14/2020: WarnerMedia corrected misinformation provided to Multichannel News by TiVo--the HBO Max app is available on TiVo Stream 4K through the Google Play Store, but it isn't integrated into the Stream app.
AT&T/WarnerMedia's HBO Max app, as well Comcast/NBCUniversal's Peacock, which launches Wednesday (July 15), are supported by Google's Android TV connected TV operating system, as well as other Google platforms, including Chromecast.
Users of the TiVo Stream 4K device, which is powered by Android TV, access HBO Max directly through the HBO Max app obtained through the Google Play Store.
Original story continues here:
Released in early May and available through July directly from TiVo for a $50 introductory price, TiVo Stream 4K is attempting to disrupt the connected-TV device market dominated by Roku and Amazon by using proprietary software that surfaces recommended content across OTT programming services.
The impasses with Roku and Amazon reportedly center around app integration — for several years, the legacy HBO Now app has been atomized within the respective Amazon Prime Video Channels and Roku Channels ecosystems. Roku and Fire TV users who subscribe to HBO have accessed the content through Roku and Amazon apps.
WarnerMedia is said to be trying to extricate the HBO Max app on the respective leading device platforms. It wants users to interface directly with HBO Max, as they do with Netflix, Hulu and Disney Plus. In other words, when you watch Disney Plus on an Amazon Fire TV-enabled box, dongle or streaming stick, it’s directly through the Disney Plus app.
More than one month after launch, HBO Max still doesn’t have support for Roku and Fire TV, platforms that control nearly two-thirds of connected TV usage in the U.S. HBO subscribers who use Roku and Amazon devices still must use the legacy HBO Now app (recently rebranded as simply “HBO”). If they subscribe to HBO through the respective Amazon and Roku “channels” SVOD aggregation portals, HBO content is still disaggregated into those Roku and Amazon apps. But Roku and Amazon users don’t have access to the broader HBO Max experience, which now includes the vast array of WarnerMedia content and original series.
It’s often asked how many subscribers WarnerMedia might be missing out on by not being more ubiquitously available. But there’s another perhaps overlooked issue: How many legacy HBO subscribers — who would not pay a dollar more to enjoy the expanded $15-a-month HBO Max experience — might switch to a device like TiVo Stream 4K to access the new service?
Notably, Comcast and NBCUniversal are conducting the national launch of their SVOD service, Peacock, on July 15. At press time, NBCU had not locked down app support deals for Peacock with Roku or Amazon.
