HBO Max is now available as a standalone service without a VPN in the U.K. for the first time, and Sky is giving its customers complementary access to the lowest, ad-supported tier.
The service launched on Thursday, and that means it’s finally possible to stream HBO hits such as the Emmy award-winning medical drama The Pitt and new titles such as Rooster, DTF St. Louis and The Comeback on-demand. Also coming later in the year is the DC superhero series Lanterns, and the hotly anticipated Harry Potter series, among many others.
HBO Max is also home to older shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Friends and Succession, as well as a film library that includes blockbusters like Sinners and One Battle After Another. In addition, it’s bundled with the TNT Sports broadcaster, which costs extra but provides access to Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, golf, snooker, rugby and more live sports.
The good news is there are multiple ways to access the service. If you go through Sky, you'll get it for free with certain packages. It’s also possible to access via Amazon Prime Video through its HBO Max channel, or you can just download the standalone HBO Max app and pay for a straightforward subscription, with prices starting at £4.99 for the Basic with Ads plan.
If you’re already a subscriber to Sky’s Ultimate TV Bundle, which costs £22 per month, you’ll get the Basic with Ads plan thrown in for free at no extra costs, along with existing services such as Netflix, Disney+, Hayu and Discovery+. Honestly, that’s not a bad deal, so long as you don’t mind tolerating the ads on each of those services. That package also throws in another 135 channels from Sky itself, including its own fare such as Sky Atlantic and Sky One, and third-party channels.
The Ultimate TV bundle’s price is set to increase to £24 a month after March 31, so you’ll need to sign up fast to take advantage of the lower price for the duration of your 24-month contract. You can, of course, pay for 12 months upfront and get it cheaper, for a total price of £240.
However, we should mention that the HBO Basic with Ads plan doesn’t provide access to the latest movies, which will only become available several months later. To get the latest flicks from cinemas, you’ll need to choose the Standard with Ads plan, which costs £5.99, or the Standard or Premium tiers, which cost £9.99 and £14.99 per month, respectively.
If you want access to sports on top of HBO Max, you’ll have to pay quite a bit more. The Standard with Ads and TNT Sports packaged costs £36.98 per month, while Standard and TNT Sports is £40.98 per month, and Premium and TNT Sports costs £45.98 per month.
