Beginning April 3, CBS All Access has extended their free trial period, in a bid to attract more subscribers while at the same time providing some free entertainment options to those staying in.
The streaming wars will only continue to heat up come May, when HBO is set to launch its live-action Green Lantern series), and mid-budget movies developed by the newly-established Warner Max label. Ahead of then, HBO has announced a move that will offer even more free content for people to check out while social distancing, as part of what appears to double as a test run for HBO Max.
Per Detective Pikachu, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Isn't It Romantic, and Blinded By the Light, as well as movies from as far back as the 1980s (Arthur, Empire of the Sun) and '90s (Forget Paris, The Bridges of Madison County).
Given the plethora of streaming services already out there, this is a smart move on HBO's part to appeal those who're considering getting an HBO Max subscription. It also gives those who've long been meaning to watch HBO critical darlings like The Outsider, the latter of which was also a big ratings success. Clearly, they still want to incentivize people to actually pay for their top content once the trial period is over.
It will be interesting to see how many people actually sign up for HBO Max when it goes live in a month. The streaming service isn't launching with a heavily-hyped exclusive title like announce the Justice League Snyder Cut for real between now and then), so there shouldn't be as much fanfare around its launch as there was for Disney+ and even Apple TV+ last fall. Not to mention, a lot of people already have HBO proper and will be able to gain access to the streamer's library when it arrives. Still, for those who don't, this free sample certainly shouldn't discourage them.
Source: Variety