The week HBO Max came to town
Sunday, 21 June 2026
Stewart Sowman-Lund’s media column, The Sunday Report - dissecting talking points from NZ media, entertainment and pop culture - appears weekly on Sundays on thepost.co.nz and in the Sunday Star-Times.
ANALYSIS: The first thing I ate was a quail’s egg. Then some beef tartare. There were desserts from the world of Harry Potter, a ‘dragon’s egg’ from Game of Thrones. If the unlimited supply of champagne wasn’t your thing, then you could opt for a Sex and the City-inspired cosmopolitan cocktail, or a White Lotus-themed pina colada called “final checkout”.
Yup, HBO was in town this week and it made its presence known, throwing a glitzy launch event for its HBO Max streaming service at Auckland’s Viaducts Events Centre on Tuesday night.
A who’s who of media, local celebs, reality TV stars and influencers were there, with massive screens on every wall playing sizzle reels from HBO shows like House of the Dragon.
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In the centre of the room, a red phone could be used to call “The Pitt emergency room”. I picked it up expecting a pre-recorded message, but instead panicked when a real person answered and I was yelled at for wasting their precious time.
If you were better at improv and actually had some sort of medical issue to disclose, actors dressed as doctors would run into the room.
Later, after a couple of speeches from HBO Max executives likely still recovering from jetlag, singer Troy Kingi appeared with his band to perform a song from the Sinners soundtrack (Sinners, of course, is available on HBO Max) along with some of his own back catalogue.
It was a truly surreal - and very expensive-looking - event (the pricetag for the evening allegedly in the six figures). It was a flashback to a different era where studios actually had money to throw at upfronts and season launches.
But weirdly, there wasn’t a lot to announce. It was all to herald the arrival of a streaming service we’ve all heard of, with content we have mostly seen elsewhere already - though with the promise of a lot more in the pipeline.
And it wasn’t just the Tuesday night bash.
On Saturday, select media had been invited to spend the night at the Park Hyatt with an iPad offering early access to HBO Max (sadly, I was unable to take up this offer).
Then, on Monday, an old-school Hollywood junket was held with House of the Dragon star Steve Toussaint flown in to speak to both local and international media in a hotel room in 10 minute intervals.
I really was expecting a fairly casual interview from which I could pluck some comments out for this column, but instead I was perched between two cameras, while former Newshub film reviewer Kate Rodger played the role of producer from side of stage, giving me a countdown until my interview time was up.
All in all, HBO has gone extremely hard reminding New Zealand that it exists - but is it worth paying for?
What does this mean for Neon
As one media executive whispered to me at the Tuesday event, this was a lot of effort for a “not particularly exciting announcement”. HBO Max has arrived in New Zealand in time for the release of House of the Dragon season three, but that tent-pole fantasy series had for the past four years been sitting easily accessible on SKY’s Neon service. In fact, there is very little on HBO Max that wasn’t already available on Neon until last week.
There are some HBO products still unavailable on HBO Max, like John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight show that was removed from Neon about a year ago and remains inaccessible on streaming.
It’s also worth remembering that Neon remains home to some excellent locally-grown content. By contrast, HBO Max’s Kiwi comedy section includes Flight of the Conchords, Our Flag Means Death and Rose Matafeo’s stand-up special - excellent shows they may be, and featuring Kiwi talent. But locally-made? Hardly.
In short, if you’re an HBO fan you’ll likely sign up for HBO Max. So the question then becomes: what about Neon?
Pretty much everything I have watched on the service in recent months was an HBO show, and has now shifted across to HBO Max. A cursory scroll across Neon’s top shows list reveals programming that I would hardly describe as buzzy or especially relevant: another Yellowstone spinoff, a BBC procedural that started in 2021, a Swedish rom-drama called Threesome and South Park.
A Neon subscription will set you back $14.99 for the ad-supported version, while HBO Max costs as little as $10.99 for the standard package.
Despite this, publicly, Neon is remaining confident. It rolled out a full branding refresh ahead of HBO’s content being snatched away, and in a press release last month touted new “premium” content due to agreements with the likes of Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and A24.
The biggest coup for Neon could be the retention of global hit Heated Rivalry, which is available on HBO Max in the US but due to a licensing deal will stay on Neon here. It also keeps hold of perennial favourites like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the latter of which was the launch programme for Neon predecessor Lightbox back in 2015.
But HBO makes the market even more crowded. If you want the full suite of major new releases, you’ll need Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Neon, HBO Max and Apple TV, with other more niche options like BritBox also available. In total, it may still cost you less than a full-blown Sky subscription - but if you’re committed to binging the next ‘big show’ then deciding what to cull is now a trickier decision.
Time will tell, but it’s hard not to think Neon could be the first streamer households choose to ditch when deciding where to put their subscriber dollars.
In other news…
Say hello to our new editor…
It has been a big week for those of us at the Sunday Star-Times, with news former columnist and National Party staffer Matthew Hooton will be our next editor-in-chief (along with overseeing The Post and its website). There has been a lot of chatter from all corners about this - it has certainly been exciting to be the centre of attention.
You can read my column on this at thepost.co.nz, and other hot takes on practically every other website. In short - buckle in for the ride. (You can expect Matthew’s first column in this newspaper next week.)
RNZ plans changes to Saturday Mornings show
RNZ is poised to make changes to its Saturday morning show fronted by Susie Ferguson and Mihingarangi Forbes - potentially returning to a single host. There has been speculation the show could be cancelled, this column was told, suggesting an entirely new host and format is possible. RNZ denied this, saying the show would be continuing but with changes. If a new host is called in, consider late night host Emile Donovan or First Up’s Nathan Rarere.
“Proposed changes to Saturday Morning are part of RNZ’s ongoing work towards the strategic goal of developing its live listening audience,” a spokesperson said.
“The proposal sets out changes aimed at reducing the size of the team responsible for the programme to ensure the programme is financially sustainable and to tap more readily into the Auckland market through moving the full presentation and production of the show to Auckland.”
Meanwhile, RNZ has started to move into its brand new studios in the TVNZ building in central Auckland - though a spokesperson said it was a little early to let us in for a snoop around.
Website and app updates
Thursday was chosen as launch day for both RNZ’s new website and the Herald’s new app - the latter allowing readers to pick their favourite reporters and create a custom news feed. It’s an exciting innovation, in that it clears a lot of the clickbait that often pops up on homepages across many outlets.
BSA bias survey
New research released by the Broadcasting Standards Authority reveals that those with a lower trust in media are more likely to perceive bias in reporting. The authority tested decisions it had made relating to public figures, politicians and related to race - including a 1News report on local council Māori wards.
An average of 86% of participants rated the decisions as very good, good, or acceptable. Most accepted the BSA’s reasoning when the relevant standards and guidelines were explained, even if they initially disagreed with the outcome.
“What some may perceive as bias is often editorial discretion and narrative framing, which is an important part of freedom of expression,” BSA chief executive Stacey Wood said.