RTL+ offers HBO Max in a bundle

For the German launch of HBO Max, the streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery, on January 13, there will be a bundle offer from the streaming service RTL+. RTL+ announced this on Thursday. According to the announcement, RTL+ will in the future enable access to both offerings with just one subscription, with users having the choice between two variants, each of which can be canceled monthly at any time and has no fixed term.

On the one hand, there is RTL+ Premium and HBO Max Basic with ads for 11.99 euros instead of 15.98 euros per month when booking both services separately. Alternatively, customers have the option to subscribe to the bundle consisting of RTL+ Premium Ad-Free and HBO Max Standard for 17.99 Euros per month (instead of 25.98 Euros when booking both services separately). In the first month after the launch of HBO Max, i.e., until February 13, 2026, the bundle of RTL+ Premium and HBO Max Basic with ads will be offered for 9.99 Euros and the bundle of RTL+ Premium Ad-Free and HBO Max Standard for 15.99 Euros.

RTL+ is exclusive partner

Interestingly, RTL+ describes itself as the “exclusive bundle partner” in the press release. This means that the hope of Sky customers to continue to access HBO Max originals via the Munich-based service has likely been dashed. The contract between Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery, through which HBO content has often run exclusively on Sky and Wow until now, expired at the end of 2025.

This is not entirely surprising: As early as the summer, Warner manager Matthias Heinze stated at a media congress that they had not reached some target groups with their previous partner Sky due to its strong focus on sports. “We want a platform through which all content is available,” Heinze said at the time. Shortly thereafter, Sky announced a new partnership with Sony Pictures Television, which includes exclusive series that are set to run on Sky and Wow in the coming years. Even then, it was obvious that the service wanted to secure itself against the possible loss of HBO Max. In Germany, HBO Max is also already marketed by Ad Alliance, a subsidiary of the RTL Group.

For Sky, the situation could change again if RTL can implement its plan to take over the company for 150 million euros. This is currently in the hands of the supervisory authorities.

4K only with Premium

In terms of price, HBO Max is in line with other streaming services such as Disney+ and Netflix. Similarities can also be found in the restrictions of the respective tariffs: in the Basic subscription with ads and in the Standard subscription, you can stream on two devices simultaneously in Full-HD resolution. The Standard subscription is ad-free and offers the option to download 30 content items for offline viewing.

The full HBO program is available in the Premium subscription. Here you can stream on four devices simultaneously, and the resolution also increases to 4K. In addition, Dolby Atmos is available for audio playback in this subscription option. In the Premium subscription, up to 100 content items can also be downloaded. (nij)