I don’t often rant a lot when I write for this site. But when HBO Max launched and it was not available on Amazon’s Fire TV or on Roku I was not very happy. The biggest issue that seemed to have been holding up the deal was the fact that they would no longer be able to sell HBO as a channel subscription in the Roku Channel Store. A concession that also Amazon and Apple had to make with their agreements. Roku was the last major distribution partner that HBO Max did not have an agreement with. But now that has finally changed.

Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement for the distribution of the HBO Max streaming service on the Roku platform. This news comes via Variety. HBO Max is now live on Roku. Before this, the streaming service was really missing out on a lot of potential customers. Roku counted for about 46 million active user accounts. Now like its main competitors, HBO Max has streaming service coverage on all major platforms. The details of the deal were not disclosed.

This deal with Roku and Amazon is vital for WarnerMedia. I wonder what WarnerMedia had to give up to make this deal happen. I say this because of how close they closed the deal to the HBO Max release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Wonder Woman 1984. They need to be able for consumers to be able to have the streaming service regardless of the device they use.

ALSO SEE: HBO MAX FINALLY GOING TO BE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON FIRE TV

Then comes the strange year that will be 2021. It was recently announced that Warner Bros. Pictures would be releasing their entire slate of films on the streaming service. They will debut on the streaming service on the same date as the theatrical release. But will only be available to stream exclusively for one month.

The news of the deal had shares for Roku up 3% after the announcement. People with the existing HBO app on their devices will automatically be updated to the HBO Max app. They will still be able to use their existing HBO log in information. Roku will sell HBO Max subscriptions through its Roku Pay, the payment service for its devices.

This is great news for me and many others. As I mainly use the Roku that came with my television as well as my Amazon Fire Stick for watching series and films. It’s strange how I have cable television but rarely use it anymore. While I am very bummed out that I won’t be able to go to the theater for a while, I am excited to see some of WB’s films at home. Technically for free, since I have HBO Max anyway.

Do you have HBO Max? Let us know in the comment section below!

Source: Variety