AT&T's Two Video Streaming Subscription Options: Warner Media and HBO Max In June 2018, AT&T completed its $108.7 billion acquisition of Time Warner, whose businesses con- sisted of global media and entertainment leaders Warner Bros. and WarnerMedia Entertainment. Warner Bros. business assets included the film stu- dios and content libraries of Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Films; a television production and syndication company; animation studios and their film libraries; and publishing company DC Comics. The WarnerMedia Communication Group included such assets as: the studios and film libraries of Home Box Office (HBO); broadcast and cable channels CNN, TBS. TNN, and TruTV; pay TV channels Cinemax, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Turner Classic Movies; and digital media company Otter Media. AT&T's new HBO division had 140 million sub- scribers who had access to HBO network's seven 24-hour multiplex channels through their cable or satellite provider (or as an add-on through Hulu); the add-on price paid to cable/satellite provider (or to Hulu) was $ 14.99 per month, cancellable at any time. All such HBO subscribers could download a free downloadable HBO GO app that could be used to originals-the crown jewel of the originals was said to access the HBO GO website; then, after entering be House of the Dragon, a 10-episode story about the their user name and password for their account at Targaryens centuries prior to the Game of Thrones. whatever provider to whom their HBO subscription fee was paid, the HBO subscriber could click on the desired HBO content and view it on mobile phones, laptops, and computers. AT&T/HBO had no inter- est in offering HBO GO access to people who were not already HBO subscribers because HBO's princi- pal revenue source was a percentage of the monthly fees that its 140 million subscribers across the world paid their cable/satellite company (or Hulu) for access to HBO programming as part of their total subscription package. AT&T executives believed Time Warner's busi- nesses nicely complemented AT&T's core businesses in mobile, broadband, cable and satellite TV, and tele- phone communications in the United States, mobile services in Mexico, and pay TV services in 11 coun- tries in South America and the Caribbean. AT&T's cable and satellite TV operations lost a combined 4 million subscribers in 2019, bringing the number of total subscribers for AT&T's various cable and satel- lite (DIRECTV) packages down to 19.7 million. However, it was AT&T's strategic plan in 2020 to achieve nationwide coverage of SG by mid-year; launch its new HBO Max streaming video service in May 2020 with a goal of securing 50 million subscribe ers in the United States and another 25 to 40 million international subscribers by 2025; and curtail the loss of subscribers to AT&T's cable and satellite ser- vices via simplified product packages and bundling opportunities with such other AT&T communica- tion products as higher-speed broadband service, home security and monitoring packages, telephone services, and possibly discounted HBO Max subscrip tions. The announced monthly price for the HBO Max streaming service was $14.99, the same price currently being paid by HBO Now's roughly 5 million direct subscribers. Plans were for current HBO sub- scribers through cable/satellite providers and direct HBO Now subscribers to be provided bundled access to HBO Max for free. AT&T expected that HBO Now subscribers would quickly migrate over to HBO Max, which would help grow total HBO Max subscriptions to 36 million by the end of 2020. HBO Max was expected to launch with roughly 10,000 titles from the WarnerMedia film libraries of its various movie studios, all of HBO's content, a number of licensed shows, and 20+ fresh Max