Oct 30, 2019

Warner Media's Streaming Service "HBO Maxx" Will Be Full of Anime

AT&T's Warner Media division's upcoming streaming service, HBO Max, will offer a wide variety of anime. New details about the animated programming were announced Tuesday afternoon at an investor event held at the Warner Bros. property in Burbank.

HBO Max, which will launch in May 2020, will be offered to U.S. customers for $15 per month. The company is targeting 50 million domestic subscribers and 75-90 million premium subscribers across the US, Latin America, and Europe by the end of 2025.

To achieve these numbers, AT&T will offer HBO Max free to approximately 10 million HBO subscribers; direct billing users who subscribe to HBO Now directly through HBONow.com will also have access to HBO Max. AT&T customers with premium video, mobile, and broadband services will receive a bundle that includes HBO Max at no additional charge.

One of the newly announced major animated features for HBO Max is the exclusive streaming rights to Comedy Central's South Park. If you recall, we reported last week that the series was in the middle of a bidding war among several streamers; HBO Max may have paid up to $500 million for the rights, although the actual contract amount has not been disclosed.

The multi-year licensing deal for "South Park" was signed with South Park Digital Studios, a joint venture between Viacom and "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. All 23 seasons of the animated satire will be available exclusively on HBO Max in June 2020, followed by three new seasons on HBO Max 24 hours after each episode premieres on Comedy Central. Disney-owned Hulu, which currently streams the series, will lose its streaming rights next spring.

According to HBO Max, South Park will be the centerpiece of its "young adult animated offerings," including The Boondocks, Rick & Morty, Adult Swim's series including Robot Chicken, Crunchyroll's anime programming, Studio Ghibli's including exclusive U.S. streaming rights to most of Studio Ghibli's feature film library.

Other animation announcements made during today's presentation: