3 Big Missing Pieces From AT&T's HBO Max Launch

AT&T (NYSE: T) is set to launch HBO Max next week, and it's lined up a lot of distribution partners. It announced partnerships with a host of pay-TV providers and connected-TV platforms, but there are a three big omissions from its current lineup: Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU).

Soon-to-be CEO John Stankey told investors earlier this month that HBO Max probably won't be available on Amazon's Fire devices at launch. He was confident the company would get deals done with everyone else ahead of the service's debut on May 27.

It's not a huge surprise AT&T has been unable to strike deals with the largest pay-TV provider in the country, and pushback from Amazon and Roku was to be expected. AT&T's strategy with HBO Max seemed to be to leverage its nationwide distribution for its pay-TV and wireless services in order to squeeze the margins on its smaller competitors in cable TV. But launching without these three platforms will put a significant damper on HBO Max's ability to sign up new subscribers.