Dish Network says it has reached an agreement with AT&T to restore premium movie channels HBO and Cinemax to its satellite television service.
The announcement came on Friday in a statement published to a social media account used by Dish Network’s customer support team. Dish Network later confirmed the move in a press release distributed by HBO’s parent company, AT&T.
“Our number one priority at Dish is and always has been to provide our customers the best entertainment experience,” Brian Neylon, a Dish Network executive, said in the statement.
As part of the deal, Dish Network will begin offering customers access to HBO Max as part of their HBO subscription. For a limited time, the satellite company is offering a discount on the ad-free tier of HBO Max to $12 a month.
Current customers of the satellite service can enjoy a limited free preview window of both HBO and Cinemax for the next 10 days. After that period, HBO will cost $15 a month and Cinemax will cost $10 a month.
“Our customers now have greater choice in the content they can access. HBO Max and Cinemax offer iconic, beloved and acclaimed content that our customers will enjoy,” Neylon said.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Dish Network said it had tapped AT&T as its official partner to support the satellite company’s various wireless initiatives. Going forward, customers of Dish Network’s prepaid brands Boost Mobile and Ting Mobile will be served by the AT&T network.
Dish Network dropped HBO and Cinemax from its satellite service in 2018 after it was unable to reach a new deal with AT&T over the service. At the time, AT&T operated DirecTV, a competing satellite television service; AT&T agreed to spin off DirecTV earlier this year.
The announcement on Thursday did not appear to cover Dish Network’s standalone streaming television service Sling TV, which still does not offer access to HBO or Cinemax. It was not clear if Dish Network would provide access to the multiplex premium movie channels on Sling TV in the future.
