HBO new streaming service yeh or nah?

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Breezzee

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#3503544 16-Jun-2026 14:54

snj:

For anyone that wants to have a poke at 'whats on' since it hasn't been aggregated into Just Watch/etc yet... HBO has a slightly conspicously placed Site Map that lists all the shows/movies spanning from https://www.hbomax.com/nz/en/sitemap

Noticed a couple that I hoped would return to streaming in NZ, but aren't on the service yet (but are in Australia via HBO Max).

Thanks for that.

Had a quick look through a few of the reality series that we are currently watching via others means.

By the quick looks of things, they are at least a month or more behind.

For example, season 22 of Deadliest Catch only has 2 episodes listed but episode 6 was dropped last weekend.

Still, I'll be checking back on that link to see how things progress.

MikeAqua

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#3503550 16-Jun-2026 15:12

I don't have enough time to keep up with the three streaming services we have. Although, if all the good stuff on Neon moves to HBO, we'd probably make the switch.

Mike

gzt

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#3503553 16-Jun-2026 15:18

It's good HBO is here as competition for Netflix. Imo Netflix managed to get away with $33.99 monthly for 4K so far mostly because of inertia and most people not checking credit card statements. But wow I see netflix USA is charging USD$24.99.

Anyway.. HBO. The only thing I voluntarily watch is hard sci-fi, I and really want 4K for that. I don't see much of that on HBO. Another series of Curb Your Enthusiasm I'd sign up to HBO for a couple of months and watch it in SD happily.

Blade Runner 2099 series will be on Prime which retains it's very sensible pricing.

richms

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#3503554 16-Jun-2026 15:19

geek3001:

Yes, I have subscribed directly via HBO's website.

Having said that, when I initially looked on subscribing on my phone, HBO's sign-up page asked me to connect to my provider per this screen shot, which made no sense at all, hence I stopped that and used a browser on my computer instead. HBO is WarnerMedia, which should have nothing to do with Amazon or Prime.

This is probably one of those limitations they apply to their mobile site if launched from an app to keep the apple gatekeepers happy. I have found in some cases that opening a browser from the app, then killing the app and browsing to it in safari would get the same limitations about joining applied to it until the cookie timed out with other services.

Basically they have to block the flow being from app-> browser -> direct payment sign up or apple will have words.

Richard rich.ms

bongojona

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#3503600 16-Jun-2026 18:34

Anyway.. HBO. The only thing I voluntarily watch is hard sci-fi, I and really want 4K for that.

Does this mean you've never watched B5?

Some of the best TV I've seen recently are old shows from the 70s up and I'm happy with a clean 720p version to be honest.

A very peculiar practice, In search of the Trojan War with Michael Wood, I Claudius, the original Brideshead Revisited, to name a few.

FailedWOF

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#3503718 17-Jun-2026 11:32

MikeAqua:

I don't have enough time to keep up with the three streaming services we have. Although, if all the good stuff on Neon moves to HBO, we'd probably make the switch.

HBO's deal with Sky ended at the same time. So all HBO content is gone from Neon.

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snj

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#3503737 17-Jun-2026 12:01

FailedWOF:

MikeAqua:

I don't have enough time to keep up with the three streaming services we have. Although, if all the good stuff on Neon moves to HBO, we'd probably make the switch.

HBO's deal with Sky ended at the same time. So all HBO content is gone from Neon.

Surprisingly it's not quite all, I had another look at the Site Map last night because I was sort of going through a mental list of some shows that I knew to be HBO/WB run. Last Week Tonight was surpisingly left off the list, and checking Neon it is still there (HBO Max Australia has it).

Some of the older ones that I thought was a little conspicuous were ER and The West Wing (including the HBO special episode from a few years ago). Again both on HBO Max Australia, and have been available for streaming in NZ in the past (so unlikely to be a music rights/similar issue that some older shows have faced). ER I could potentially understand because there has been a slight kurfuffle between HBO and the estate of the ER creator, due to The Pitt.

Also noticed that they had the reboot version of Night Court, but not the original version (although I'm not sure/haven't looked if that was ever available for streaming here, or even was a WB show). There were a couple of other WB shows that I noticed were missing, but they were from the 00's which is the golden era for copyright issues with music licensing/etc, so likely explained by that.

Earbanean

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#3503739 17-Jun-2026 12:26

snj:

Surprisingly it's not quite all, I had another look at the Site Map last night because I was sort of going through a mental list of some shows that I knew to be HBO/WB run. Last Week Tonight was surpisingly left off the list, and checking Neon it is still there (HBO Max Australia has it).

Some of the older ones that I thought was a little conspicuous were ER and The West Wing (including the HBO special episode from a few years ago). Again both on HBO Max Australia, and have been available for streaming in NZ in the past (so unlikely to be a music rights/similar issue that some older shows have faced). ER I could potentially understand because there has been a slight kurfuffle between HBO and the estate of the ER creator, due to The Pitt.

Also noticed that they had the reboot version of Night Court, but not the original version (although I'm not sure/haven't looked if that was ever available for streaming here, or even was a WB show). There were a couple of other WB shows that I noticed were missing, but they were from the 00's which is the golden era for copyright issues with music licensing/etc, so likely explained by that.

I flicked off the geo-unblocking on my US account last night and HBO Max appeared to open with the NZ catalogue. At first glance it seems all the major shows and new shows are there. As you say above, some of the older titles are not. They could be part of a staged build out of the NZ catalogue and yet to be loaded, or they could just not be included at all. Personally, I'm mainly only interested in the new shows anyway.

geek3001

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#3503741 17-Jun-2026 12:34

snj:

...

Some of the older ones that I thought was a little conspicuous were ER and The West Wing (including the HBO special episode from a few years ago). Again both on HBO Max Australia, and have been available for streaming in NZ in the past (so unlikely to be a music rights/similar issue that some older shows have faced).

The West Wing is currently available (to rent or purchase at additional cost to the base streaming cost) on Prime here in NZ, so perhaps that is why it is not included in HBO's current offering. Perhaps it may become available on HBO in NZ in the future if and when Prime's license to stream that series ends.

FailedWOF

52 posts

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+1 received by user: 29

#3503742 17-Jun-2026 12:35

snj:

Surprisingly it's not quite all, I had another look at the Site Map last night because I was sort of going through a mental list of some shows that I knew to be HBO/WB run. Last Week Tonight was surpisingly left off the list, and checking Neon it is still there (HBO Max Australia has it).

Some of the older ones that I thought was a little conspicuous were ER and The West Wing (including the HBO special episode from a few years ago). Again both on HBO Max Australia, and have been available for streaming in NZ in the past (so unlikely to be a music rights/similar issue that some older shows have faced). ER I could potentially understand because there has been a slight kurfuffle between HBO and the estate of the ER creator, due to The Pitt.

Also noticed that they had the reboot version of Night Court, but not the original version (although I'm not sure/haven't looked if that was ever available for streaming here, or even was a WB show). There were a couple of other WB shows that I noticed were missing, but they were from the 00's which is the golden era for copyright issues with music licensing/etc, so likely explained by that.

Interesting. Sky's press release was pretty clear that HBO content would be leaving Neon and that the HBO channels were being shut down. My guess is they applied a bit of 80/20 thinking to it. Pick a date where the vast majority of the catalogue can move (esp the big titles), launch, and then let the stragglers migrate as existing licensing agreements expire. If I was to bet, I'd guess some of those titles conveniently appear around the time the promo pricing ends as a retention hook for when people start reconsidering.

FailedWOF

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#3503744 17-Jun-2026 12:41

Earbanean:

I flicked off the geo-unblocking on my US account last night and HBO Max appeared to open with the NZ catalogue. At first glance it seems all the major shows and new shows are there. As you say above, some of the older titles are not. They could be part of a staged build out of the NZ catalogue and yet to be loaded, or they could just not be included at all. Personally, I'm mainly only interested in the new shows anyway.

Don't suppose you've been game enough to switch the subscription over? I dropped my US HBO sub last year. But when I tried to sign up for HBO NZ yesterday I got an error saying the email address couldn't be used because the account was tied to another region. I worked around it with + addressing. It didn't like my NZ CC either and ended up doing it through Paypal.

I did just try again for shits and giggles and no longer get the region lock error. Now it sends me into an endless five step captcha loop. Could be they're still untangling account issues behind the scenes, or maybe it's just a bug in the signup process.

The NZ pricing actually seems pretty reasonable by comparison even after the promo pricing ends. Not sure what you're paying now, but my US sub was getting close to $40 once converted to pacific pesos.

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mortonman

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#3503812 17-Jun-2026 16:58

as with poster above Im having issues signing up. I used to have a US account so it wont let me open an account in NZ. Dont want to set up a new email. What is plus addressing?

Earbanean

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#3503827 17-Jun-2026 18:40

FailedWOF:

Don't suppose you've been game enough to switch the subscription over? I dropped my US HBO sub last year. But when I tried to sign up for HBO NZ yesterday I got an error saying the email address couldn't be used because the account was tied to another region. I worked around it with + addressing. It didn't like my NZ CC either and ended up doing it through Paypal.

I did just try again for shits and giggles and no longer get the region lock error. Now it sends me into an endless five step captcha loop. Could be they're still untangling account issues behind the scenes, or maybe it's just a bug in the signup process.

The NZ pricing actually seems pretty reasonable by comparison even after the promo pricing ends. Not sure what you're paying now, but my US sub was getting close to $40 once converted to pacific pesos.

Haven't switched sub yet, but will cancel US and cutover. I guess if the US catalogue was superior, then there's nothing stopping me subscribing to the currently cheaper NZ service and then switching geo-unblocking back. NZ price, with US catalogue (or other supported country).

FailedWOF

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#3503836 17-Jun-2026 19:51

mortonman:

as with poster above Im having issues signing up. I used to have a US account so it wont let me open an account in NZ. Dont want to set up a new email. What is plus addressing?

Yeah that’s the message I got.

https://blog.mxtoolbox.com/2020/09/21/the-awesomeness-of-plus-addressing/

ARIKIP

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#3503968 18-Jun-2026 13:53

umming and ahhing on this one. Had access to HBO via Neon courtesy of a Cousin who subscribed and added me as a another profile. Be great to watch their big shows in 4K/Atmos. I already subscribe to Apple TV(yearly),Netflix Family(discounted via Spark),Prime(non ad free),Disney plus(yearly). So a few dollars spread around multiple streaming services. Looking at perhaps doing the ol subscribe for a month and Binge on their content across all the streaming services. Give my wallet a rest. Still.....tempted by the discount when going yearly subscription. Getting to be an expensive hobby with price rises on these services showing up more frequently and with damn advertising too.

Sony 77" A80J OLED, Panasonic UB820, Panasonic BD-T460, Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen, Samsung Q990D Soundbar

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