Why Canada isn’t getting HBO Max or Hulu

Back in the early aughts, Maclean’s magazine ran a regular feature in its opening pages titled, simply, “Still No HBO.” Every week, the magazine’s editors would lament the fact that, due to federal telecom regulations, the U.S. cable behemoth was unavailable in Canada, with some of its offerings acquired by local premium channels like The Movie Network or Bravo, and other series forever out of reach of domestic audiences.

Maclean’s had to retire the Still No HBO complaint in 2008 after Bell Media launched HBO Canada, which has since been absorbed into the company’s Crave streaming service. But someone – maybe Maclean’s, or maybe the publication that you’re reading at this very moment – might want to revive and tweak the weekly grievance for 2020, or until we get the full offerings of HBO Max.

The new streaming megaservice, designed by parent company AT&T to be a Netflix-killer, debuted in the United States last month, featuring all the legacy programs its namesake is known for (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones), plus new series produced specifically for HBO Max (the Anna Kendrick rom-com Love Life), and 10,000 hours of series and movies from its WarnerMedia stable of brands, including DC Entertainment, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, The CW, Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. Pictures. All for US$14.99.

Sounds great, right? Except for the fact that there is no such thing as HBO Max Canada. Instead, select titles will make their way to Canadian audiences through Crave (which costs $19.99 a month with the HBO add-on), including the first wave of originals like Love Life, Craftopia, Legendary, the Gossip Girl reboot and the Kaley Cuoco-starring miniseries The Flight Attendant.

Read more  HERE.