Like a New Jersey mobster struggling to take care of his family while simultaneously confronting his own mental health issues, HBO is trying to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
After hemorrhaging subscribers as a result of executives’ decision to yank HBO from Amazon Prime Video’s Channels, WarnerMedia, the platform’s parent company, is dangling a 50% off sale in front of would-be HBO Max users in an effort to woo them back to the platform.
According to Deadline, the half-off discount will run from today through September 26 and will be available to both new and returning subscribers who had previously accessed HBO via Amazon’s Channels platform. The deal, which will last up to six months, would bring HBO Max’s monthly subscription cost down to $7.49 (HBO Max typically costs $15/month without ads, or $10 a month with ads.)
On Sept. 15, HBO was removed from Amazon Prime Video’s Channels service—the result of a deal cut by HBO’s parent company, WarnerMedia, years earlier that had sought to end the relationship as part of an effort to cut out the middle man so that HBO “owns” more of its subscribers. For the record, HBO Max will still be available as an app on Amazon’s Fire TV service—which is distinct from Amazon Channels—but the decision to sever Channels users from their HBO accounts has already resulted in roughly 5 million canceled subscriptions, all in the name of hopefully securing HBO Max as the primary entry point for future subscribers who want to access its proprietary streaming content.
It’s worth noting that the sticking point in the previous placement deal was the fact that it had allowed Amazon’s Channels division to maintain control of HBO’s streaming data—which just didn’t sit right with HBO. Sometimes you just want to be the capo of your own subscription data, capiche? This affluent north Jersey suburb isn’t big enough for all these streaming platforms and their respective tough wars—and at the end of the day, there can only be own big boss in town. In gabagool’s name, we pray.