HBO MAX IS coming to Ireland next month and is taking the hit-show Friends with it in a bid to woo customers.

The service will be available directly through HBO, as well as via its launch partner Sky.

The streaming service, which is being launched under the umbrella of Warner Bros. Discovery, will be available in the UK and Ireland from 26 March.

Content from HBO is currently available in Ireland through Sky and its streaming service ‘Now’.

Sky customers will keep programmes that began before the end of 2025, but new original HBO programmes will be exclusive to HBO Max.

It’s understood that continuing shows, such as House of the Dragon, Last of Us and White Lotus, will continue to be on Sky.

Among the programmes available on HBO Max is Friends, which had been in streaming limbo since leaving Netflix at the end of last year.

Hit US medical drama The Pitt will also be used as an exclusive original to help launch the streaming service here.

HBO Max is also home to the DC Universe, Harry Potter, as well as Succession and The Sopranos.

The streaming service will offer four plans, starting at €5.99 a month and rising to €15.99 a month.

The basic service with ads, priced at €5.99, offers streaming on two devices at once though not all movies are included.

Meanwhile, the premium service, costing €15.00, allows streaming on four devices at once and 100 downloads.

The basic ‘with ads’ service will be available to Sky Stream and Sky Glass customers with Sky Ultimate TV and Sky Q customers as part of their Sky subscription and will also be integrated into the Now streaming platform.

JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, yesterday acknowledged that HBO Max is “late to the streaming party” and that rivals like Netflix and Disney+ “have a huge head start in awareness, reach and subscriber bases”.

And while Netflix has much more content than HBO Max, Perrette yesterday insisted that “more is not better”.