Happy HBO Max Launches in the UK Day! 26 March 2026. But how long will the new service last – at least under this brand name pending the sale of WBD to Paramount Skydance? What’s it customer acquisition strategy? How many subscribers is it aiming for? And could HBO Max have come sooner to market in the UK?

Lydia and I answer these questions as well as discussing other industry news over the past week. 

And earlier in the week, Lydia and I filmed an interview, as part of the pod, with two senior Channel 4 execs: Matt Beresford-Jones and Kim Morris. We talked about how C4 does scheduling both from a linear and OTT perspective; how schedules are put together in terms of processes and workflow, and how the broadcasters and streamers know not to clash with each other for tentpole releases. 

Watch both videos below and send comments to me / Lydia via LinkedIn. 

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Live Audience Experience
02:42 Channel 4 Scheduling Insights
05:27 HBO Max Launch in the UK
08:33 Content Strategy and Subscriber Growth
11:30 HBO Max’s Global Expansion
14:32 Matt Britton’s Appointment as BBC DG
17:31 Legal Cases Against Google and Meta
22:27 Impact of Class Actions on Streaming Industry
25:04 The Algorithm and Content Consumption Concerns
25:20 OpenAI’s Sora: A Surprising Closure
28:28 Looking Ahead: Future of Streaming and AI

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