Many HBO Max users were frustrated Wednesday morning when they realized they’d be unable to watch the massive streaming platform on their Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices. The long-awaited debut has finally arrived — but without two of the biggest TV streaming platforms, as HBO parent company AT&T has not yet reached an agreement with either company, CNET reports.
That means that even if you have the HBO Go or HBO Now app on your Roku or Fire TV, or even if your HBO subscription was upgraded to Max, you won’t be able to watch HBO Max on there. It’s worth noting that Roku and Fire TV users should still be able to access their HBO Go and HBO Now apps on their respective devices — but many users are understandably frustrated by the HBO Max situation.
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Other platforms and devices that currently support the HBO Max app include iOS and Android; Xbox One and Playstation 4; Apple TV; Chromecast; and web browsers. That means if you have any of those, you can watch HBO Max there.
The massive new Max service offers every show and movie available on HBO and adds a host of exclusive content from WarnerMedia and DC Comics. It will be home to popular shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory and Rick and Morty; classic films like Lord of the Rings, Casablanca and A Star Is Born; DC Comics movies like Joker and Wonder Woman; and kids’ content from Looney Toons and Sesame Street. But HBO Max will also stream originals, including a new Justice League Dark series from J.J. Abrams, a Game of Thrones spin-off called House of the Dragon and a new Sesame Street show called The Not Too Late Show with Elmo.
But all of those titles are inaccessible to Roku and Fire TV users until AT&T comes to an agreement with both of them. Until then, see what streamers have to say about the sticky situation.
Wait, I can’t watch HBO Max on Roku??
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) May 26, 2020
Got this on an Email from the official HBO Max account, Looks like no Roku or Amazon Fire TVs or sticks to be available day one at Launch
— EvilLord37 (@EvilLord37) May 27, 2020
Absolutely Devastating and quite frankly idiotic not working out a deal with the two largest streaming platforms pic.twitter.com/qY4ECGAucv
So @HBO convinces me to cancel HBO Now through @hulu for $14.99 a few weeks ago and subscribe to @hbomax separately for $11.99 but then one hour before going live they tell me that @Roku is not on the supported streaming device list? Ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/fMaddbmv26
— Mike & Olive Review Things (@MikeOliveReview) May 27, 2020
Are you seriously telling me no Roku @hbomax?! Honestly WTF?
— EPM⁷ 💜💜💜 (@EPM8_3isme) May 27, 2020
hbo max not on roku man what
— J o h n (@industrylovers) May 27, 2020
HBO Max not having Amazon Fire and Roku support at launch seems like a really big mistake. pic.twitter.com/TmLakdc03S
— Brian K Myers (@fluffyman85) May 27, 2020
They’re really going to launch this massive HBO Max app tomorrow without the ability to watch it on Roku or Amazon Fire products. Wow. Was expecting an 11th hour deal to get done.
— Josh Odson (@Producer_Josh) May 26, 2020
So is @hbomax going to be on Roku or not? Shouldn’t all this shit be figured out BEFORE a launch?
— Roger (@NotRabbitRoger) May 23, 2020
We’ve known HBO Max was coming for like a year, so how do they not already have deals in place to have the app on Roku and Amazon Fire Stick, arguably the two places where people watch the most?
— Brandyn 🐅 (@AwYeahMrB) May 27, 2020
HBO Max not being available on Amazon or Roku is a huge disappointment.
— Carrington Harrison (@cdotharrison) May 27, 2020
Why would it not be on Roku? That’s absurd.
— Matthew Snellings (@mtsnellings) May 27, 2020
I get HBO Max for free because I have AT&T Internet 1000…but I have a Roku TV. Yay. Oh well. I figured out how to cast it to the TV from my laptop browser, but how ridiculous.
— ThisBarbara (@ThisBarbara) May 27, 2020
Everybody else today: *enjoying HBO Max at launch*
— 🌑🗿🍎. 👨🏿🎓 (@moonstoneappul) May 27, 2020
Me, with a Roku account: pic.twitter.com/wYw46n6gRa
The fact that HBO Max isn’t on Roku or Fire TV is a huge L
— Rasika A.W. 🦋 (@thelovelypossum) May 27, 2020
Hmm, apparently HBO Max won’t be on Roku, so I maybe did that discounted preorder for literally no reason? I’m never going to be the person who watches TV on my laptop. If I’m on a computer I feel like I’m working, I just want to watch TV on my TV.
— Drake (@drake_aca) May 27, 2020
Grrr, I didn’t realize HBO Max and Roku hadn’t made a deal yet. I wouldn’t have signed up for HBO Max already if I knew that.
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) May 26, 2020
