THE NEW STREAMER, HBO Max, is entering the Irish market. 

Until now, many of HBO’s biggest shows – current hits like White Lotus, as well as classic series like Sex and the City and The Sopranos – have been available to Sky customers in Ireland. 

So what will the arrival of the new streaming service mean for fans of those shows? 

Sky Ireland hosted a media briefing in the salubrious surroundings of the rooftop Dion restaurant (the landmark former Central Bank building) in Dublin city centre this morning to tout upcoming changes to their service and answer questions on the change. 

In short, if you have the lower tier Sky Essentials package you’ll have to pay extra to view most HBO content. 

Customers on other packages – the likes of Sky Ultimate, Sky Stream, Sky Glass and Sky Q will be able to access content from Disney+ and HBO Max – but they’ll have to sit through ads if they want to watch it.

The TV company confirmed this morning that it was launching a new service offering its own content alongside Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and reality TV streamer Hayu in one subscription which will cost new customers €28 per month for twelve months.

If you are an existing Sky customer with a package like Sky Ultimate you will continue paying the cost of your current plan until the end of your current contract.

HBO Max and Disney+ will be available on Sky from March, while Hayu will be available from July, with a selection of shows available from March.

You’ll have to pay more if you want to watch shows on HBO Max and Disney+ without ads. Now Entertainment customers can also access HBO Max, but again, there will be ads.

On upgrades, Sky offers customers a discount equal to the value of the services in their current subscription.

The return of ads 

Advertising on streaming services is becoming big business for companies – researcher Magna Global estimated that ad spending in the US climbed 13% to $12.3 billion (€10.3 billion) last year.

The Rest is Entertainment podcast hosts Marina Hyde and Richard Osman have commented that streaming services are returning to traditional models of TV by introducing ad-supported tiers, a move Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have all made.

Sky Sky

This move away from the ad-free streaming can be frustrating for viewers after years of getting used to it.

The nature of advertising on streaming services is also different to traditional TV ads.

Bloomberg recently reported that advertisers can target viewers with personalised ads more freely on streaming services than they can on traditional TV. Viewers also can’t skips ads by pausing or recording while streaming.

Speaking at the Sky’s launch today, Caroline Donnellan, Sky Ireland’s Director of Marketing and Brand said that the curation of content from Sky and other apps into one place is a “world first”.

Dodgy boxes

Some people are turning to illegal streaming devices, often known as dodgy boxes, for cheap streaming of content.

However, as well as the low price, one of the draws of these types of devices is that content which is usually only available on different apps has been centralised on one platform, meaning it isn’t necessary to log in to separate apps or search different platforms.

Matthew Price, Commercial Director at Sky Ireland, said pirated TV has become one of Sky’s main competitors.

However, he said the benefit of Sky’s new service is that as well as centralising content, “it’s legitimate, and the guy who sold you it isn’t going to get arrested”.

“It’s not going to stop working randomly, and the quality and integration is going to be better,” he said.