AT&T Can't Afford To Keep HBO Max Off Roku and Fire TV

Leading up to AT&T's (NYSE: T) launch of HBO Max in May 2020, the company said, "we expect HBO Max to achieve an impressive level of scale and reach at launch." However, HBO Max still isn't available on either the Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) or Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) Fire TV platforms. AT&T's inability to negotiate a deal has essentially locked HBO Max out of roughly 70% of the domestic streaming market. This mistake is hurting HBO Max's growth potential, and its ability to be used as a retention and acquisition tool.

One problem in HBO Max's launch was the confusing upgrade path for millions of existing HBO customers. According to estimates, about 30 million HBO customers qualify for a free upgrade. However, in its first 30 days, the service signed up just 4.1 million subscribers. Considering that The Walt Disney Company signed up more than 10 million Disney+ subscribers in its first 24 hours, it seems HBO Max has a problem.

Image source: Getty Images.

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Source Fool.com