HBO Max Hit With Technical Problems, Streaming Outages
UPDATED: WarnerMedia’s HBO Max was hit with scattered technical issues for more than an hour Tuesday, with users nationwide reporting problems streaming video.
According to monitoring site DownDetector, problem reports with HBO Max began to surge around 4:45 p.m. ET, with user-reported issues concentrated in New York, L.A., Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
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“We’re aware some customers may be experiencing issues streaming #HBOMax and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this as quickly as possible,” the HBO Max Help account on Twitter posted Tuesday. The account pointed customers to its help website for updates.
At 6:08 p.m. ET, HBO Max Help tweeted that the issue had been resolved.
HBO Max users said they encountered error messages that said “Can’t Play Title” or that video was simply not loading in the app.
Many HBO Max customers took to social media to complain about the outages. “very cool of hbo max to go down at the exact moment im trying to fucking watch infinity train,” one griped. Another quipped, “I can’t wait for the @LastWeekTonight bit about HBO Max being down this week…”
As of the end of March 2021, HBO Max and HBO combined had 44.2 million domestic customers (including 9.7 million retail HBO Max subs), up 2.7 million sequentially from 41.5 million at the end of 2020.
The first week of June, WarnerMedia plans to launch HBO Max With Ads, priced at $10/month with a limited amount of commercial breaks, a 33% discount from the regular $15/month ad-free tier. The ad-supported version offers the same content with the exception of the Warner Bros. films being made available on HBO Max day-and-date with theaters.
Also next month, WarnerMedia is planning to launch HBO Max in 39 Latin American countries next month, followed by 21 European markets in the back half of 2021. The company expects to end the year with between 67 million and 70 million HBO/HBO Max subscribers worldwide, up 10%-15% from the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, AT&T has set plans to jettison WarnerMedia: Last week the telco announced a multibillion-dollar deal to combine WarnerMedia with Discovery, in a bid to gain global synergies for their direct-to-consumer streaming businesses.
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