Spectrum Guide will be rolling out both YouTube and HBO Max on eligible devices throughout their service areas, allowing them to be accessed centrally from the Spectrum TV platform. It’s yet another sign of the evolving digital landscape we now produce entertainment in, so we sought out Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A, to break the implications down further for us.
Customers will now be able to tune directly to both streamers through eligible Spectrum Devices using Spectrum Internet. The HBO Max side of the deal alone will allow Spectrum customers access to well over 13,000 hours of WarnerMedia content, including subsidiaries like Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, and, of course, HBO. A subscription to the streamer will still be needed for viewers, but they can organize this directly through Spectrum if interested.
YouTube, of course, is a little different from the average streaming service. It won’t carry a separate subscription cost by default, although there are premium tiers people can consider. It will instead allow users to access the hottest aspects of ‘social media video’ through their TVs, as well as allowing them to stream it in 4k through their TVs.
With Roku and YouTube still sitting very uneasily with each other, this does offer Spectrum TV a unique chance to gain some extra traction in the market. YouTube, particularly, has been a drawcard for the smart device industry, and is loosely considered an essential by many in the market. HBO Max has become an attractive on-demand service as well, with WarnerMedia finally able to play at the top tiers of streaming society alongside Netflix and Disney. As with Netflix, they’re also trying to further expand their originals market with new content, all to gain extra market position in a crowded environment
It’s a neat two-for-one deal from SpectrumTV, and one that will doubtless prove enticing for shoppers looking for great deals on compatible devices as we head into the year-end frenzy of gadget buying. Will it gain extra traction as an OTT internet TV service? That remains to be seen.
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