HBO's exciting update changes everything about streaming's future

HBO has been waiting years for this – it's slowly but surely starting to properly expand beyond the US, where it's had HBO Max (formerly just Max, and even more formerly HBO Max again) as its own streaming platform for years. We've known for a while that it might be planning a launch in the UK, but there's nothing on the immediate horizon there.

However, new reports last week indicated that HBO Max will expand rapidly to 12 new countries this year, seriously levelling up its footprint outside the US heartland. Those countries are:

• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Albania
• Armenia
• Cyprus
• Georgia
• Iceland
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Malta
• Tajikistan

If you live in any of them, happy days – you're about to get a one-stop destination for your HBO needs. If not, take heart, since this is all part of a rollout plan that means your country is probably in HBO's thoughts eventually.

Here in the UK, for years and years, there have only been two ways to access HBO content legally. One has been through a Sky subscription including the Sky Atlantic channel, which traditionally airs HBO shows on Mondays, after they show on Sunday night in the US.

The other has been a Now Entertainment pass (formerly Now TV), which gives you full on-demand access, although you have to pay extra for anything over 720p quality, which is a bit of a gouge in this day and age.

I've been using Now for years to this end, and HBO shows have been the main reason to have the subscription, for me, so it'll mark a fairly huge shift when HBO Max does arrive in the UK. That's likely to happen in early 2026, based on the industry rumblings at present, and I've no doubt that Sky and Now (which are heavily interconnected) are deeply worried about it.

After all, while Sky has some great programming of its own, like Gangs of London, it can't really compete with HBO for depth and quality right now, or without some major investment in productions. It'll be fascinating to watch how that plays out. Perhaps, for one thing, HBO Max will coexist with these older ways to watch, at least for a while.

The race to be the best streaming service is pretty Sisyphean, to be honest, and doesn't really have a finish line. This expansion from HBO, though, is the sign that it's finally planning to take the fight to other parts of the world.