We’ve known for a while that WarnerMedia has been preparing to launch their own streaming service. Well, we’re getting a little more information about what WarnerMedia’s new service is going to look like as the Great Streaming Wars continue.
WarnerMedia, as you may recall, is AT&T’s entertainment division, which used to be known as Time Warner. So WarnerMedia has a large range of assets from cartoons to TV channels to cinema productions to DVD/Blu-ray productions. Their WarnerMedia Entertainment branch owns a company called Otter Media. Don’t recognize that name? Well, perhaps you’ll recognize a little division under them called Ellation. Ellation’s subsidiaries include Ellation Studios, Rooster Teeth, VRV, and, perhaps the most important to readers of this column, Crunchyroll. Otter Media was put under the WarnerMedia Entertainment label in May 2019 after temporarily being in the hands of Warner Bros., home of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Like other media conglomerates, WarnerMedia has been working on launching their own streaming service to compete with the others and take away subscribers from Netflix. There have been details here and there, but it seems some of those early plans have changed as things get hammered out.
First up, WarnerMedia’s new service now has a name: HBO Max. HBO already has a streaming service in the form of HBO NOW (HBO GO for cable/satellite subscribers), but those will still be available separately. The Wall Street Journal reports that HBO Max will cost more than HBO Now’s current price of $14.99 a month. It will launch in Spring 2020.
So what will users get for $16 or more a month? Well, they’ll get HBO content of course, popular TV shows like Friends, new series both animated and live action, and content from WarnerMedia’s other TV and streaming platforms — yes, including Crunchyroll. For those of you who are thinking you may replace the approximately $8 a month for Crunchyroll with less than $20 for all that’s listed in this press release, hold up. Crunchyroll has confirmed with Anime News Network that HBO Max will only feature some series from Crunchyroll.
So this is more like the Funimation-Hulu deal where the hope is that some casual or non-anime fans stumble upon a series. Maybe HBO Max and Crunchyroll will also occasionally shop together for series just like Funimation and Hulu. We have no idea of what anime will be on HBO Max, but Toonami’s current and future lineup seems like a shoo-in since Crunchyroll and Adult Swim have already partnered up.
So while this probably means that Crunchyroll’s ad-supported version is safe, I think this means VRV is soon on the chopping block. Right now, it’s only about $2 to $3 more than a monthly Crunchyroll subscription, and it includes HIDIVE, Rooster Teeth, Boomerang, NickSplat, Geek & Sundry, and more. Unless HBO Max only includes a fraction of other WarnerMedia streaming platform series like Crunchyroll, I can’t see AT&T allowing a cheaper multi-package option to coexist. However, HBO NOW will continue, so there’s a chance VRV can survive.
Speaking of price, I wonder if HBO Max will be as successful as some of its rivals, as the price may deter a lot of people. I’m guessing it will be $19.99 to $24.99 a month. That’s two to three times the cost of rival Disney’s upcoming service Disney+ and well above Netflix’s top tier subscription plan. Perhaps AT&T will offer a discount on HBO Max if viewers have TV, phone, or Internet service to help entice new subscribers.
Since Crunchyroll has recently raised its rates, fans shouldn’t have to worry about another increase right now. If HBO Max had featured all of Crunchyroll, I could see AT&T encouraging them to raise their rates so that viewers are more inclined to jump to the more-expensive all-in streaming platform. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a bummer that if you want Friends and Batwoman as well as Naruto and much of the latest simulcasts, you’re paying for Crunchyroll as well as part of Crunchyroll in the form of HBO Max. Kinda stinks there’s overlap from the same company.
Of course, WarnerMedia’s streaming service has undergone some revisions already, and we’ll have to see if AT&T will make any other changes. I like how Crunchyroll is going to be left (mostly) alone, but I’d really like the reasonable $10 VRV option to also remain. It has most of the channels and platforms I like from WarnerMedia plus some other interesting content. I also think the name was a poor choice, as HBO makes you think of HBO’s cool, edgy content and not the full WarnerMedia Entertainment library. I don’t think a lot of parents will associate HBO Now with being able to put on Bugs Bunny for the kids.
While there are a few exclusives to HBO Max I might be interested in, I have no plans on subscribing. I already have DirecTV which features WarnerMedia channels as well as on-demand versions of them, and, of course, there’s anime-only or anime-heavy options like Crunchyroll for my Japanese media needs.