HBO Max is live: $15/mo for a massive library, significant headaches

Enlarge (credit: WarnerMedia)

Like it or not, another subscription streaming service has entered the chat.

This one-HBO Max-debuts across the United States on Wednesday, and it comes from the combined AT&T-Time Warner media empire. After taking shape in 2018, the new "WarnerMedia" cluster of film and TV content has since put together a streaming library of exclusive content-particularly by yoinking content away from Netflix and other partners in apparent defiance of AT&T's antitrust pledge to US Congress.

WarnerMedia didn't make the service available to Ars Technica ahead of the launch, so I jumped into the fray by claiming a free seven-day trial on launch day and picked through its first day's content and interface. I did so to answer the following question: has WarnerMedia pulled off a service worthy of a $15/month fee?

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