AT&T killed off the HBO Max bundle in its highest-priced unlimited wireless plan

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AT&T killed off the HBO Max bundle in its highest-priced unlimited wireless plan

Lauren Forristal

Thu, June 9, 2022, 5:04 AM·3 min read

Telecommunications provider AT&T quietly dropped HBO Max as a bundled perk for new AT&T customers on its top unlimited wireless plan, AT&T Unlimited Premium. The company launched the new plan this week, which replaced Unlimited Elite. AT&T confirmed the new plan doesn't include the streaming service but didn't provide a detailed explanation regarding its decision.

"HBO Max is a great service, but we constantly experiment with the features we offer our customers to give them the best value," AT&T spokesman Jim Greer told TechCrunch.

The bundling of HBO Max with AT&T's wireless plans helped gain customers and convince existing subscribers to switch to the higher-priced plan. Now that the Warner Bros. Discovery mega-merger has closed, AT&T no longer owns HBO Max; therefore, it has no motive to keep giving consumers the perk. With this week's move, AT&T no longer has a video streaming partner for its main wireless service.

It is important to note that existing customers who already have an Unlimited Elite plan will continue to receive HBO Max for no additional charge. Also, AT&T’s Cricket Wireless brand, the company's prepaid carrier, still offers the ad-supported version of HBO Max included with its $60 per month unlimited plan.

Previously, the AT&T Unlimited Elite wireless plan offered HBO Max for no extra charge. Although AT&T Unlimited Premium will not offer free HBO Max, the plan will include 50 gigabytes (up from 40 GB per month) of high-speed hotspot data and starts at $50 per month per line when you get four lines.

Before the launch of the streaming service HBO Max, the carrier had used to give HBO for free in some of its unlimited plans going back to 2017.

WarnerMedia had been dragging down AT&T’s overall earnings and reported that for Q1 2022, WarnerMedia’s operating income was $1.3 billion, down 32.7% year over year. AT&T said that the decline was largely a result of increased "investments incurred in launching CNN+ and expanding new territories at HBO Max.” CNN+ was then shuttered a month after its launch.