HBO Max is not yet available on Roku or Fire TV, but apps for both platforms are ready as soon as HBO parents AT&T have signed a contract with Roku and Amazon.
Sarah Tew / CNET
HBO Max The big start on Wednesday went largely smoothly. Unlike other streaming launches, there were no major downtime issues, no widespread app crashes, and no outages that prevented a large number of people from using an HBO Now or cable-provided HBO Go account Update HBO Max.
The big question for millions, however, is when HBO Max will be available for Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Even though there remains a gap Once an agreement has been reached between HBO’s parent company AT&T and the two popular streaming TV platforms, the upgrade process to bring HBO Max to one of the two platforms should be quick.
Andy Forssell, Executive Vice President and General Manager of WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer products, tells CNET that the company has HBO Max applications for Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
According to Forssell, once transactions are completed, the apps could be available “minutes later” in the app stores of both platforms.
The development team, he adds, has already “done the hard work”, with the problem now “about the complexity of the landscape and only about a meaningful deal” for both AT&T and the respective streaming platforms.
When AT & T’s WarnerMedia developed the various HBO Max apps, the company’s goal was “to be on every platform,” said Jeremy Legg, HBO’s executive vice president and chief technology officer. “And so we create apps for every platform along the way.”
Legg adds that some of the offers to bring HBO Max to platforms like iOS and Android or cable providers like Comcast and Charter have “been completed now, some later”. But he continues: “We’ll have apps for everyone.”
The company’s HBO Go and Now apps have long been an integral part of the Roku and Amazon Fire TV platforms, and both apps still work today to access regular HBO.
It is still unclear exactly when AT&T will do business with Amazon and Roku. “It could be days, it could take longer,” says Forssell. “But everyone I think works in good faith and that’s why I’m optimistic.”