Elon Residence Life announced that the streaming platform Max is now accessible to residential students through their Elon University accounts.
Assistant Dean of Campus Life and Director of Residence Life Kristen Carrier announced the update in an email that was sent out to students living on-campus on Nov. 8.
In February 2023, Elon students lost the ability to use Max — formerly HBO Max — with their university logins, following a change in cable providers from Philo to Streeme. After nine months without the streaming service, Max is now back at Elon.
Sophomore Devon Rocke said that she thinks the service returning to campus will be beneficial for Elon students.
“I think it’s a very good opportunity for Elon students to expand their knowledge on different TV shows and different movies,” Rocke said.
With Max now being accessible for students who live on-campus, using their university login means they won’t have to pay for the platform. Max’s prices range from $9.99 to $19.99 per month depending on what plan the user choses. The plans differ based on the amount of devices that can stream at once, video quality and the amount of content that can be downloaded.
Rocke said that since she can now access the service through her Elon account, she will be able to save money.
“It’s a big saver on money, which is great, especially because of the rise in price for streaming services nowadays,” Rocke said.
Although Max is now available to residential students, students who live off-campus did not receive an email announcing Max’s return. Senior Maggie Holeman lives off-campus and said when off-campus students attempt to log into Max using their Elon account, they are told that their subscription can’t be verified.
Off-campus senior Paige Goldberg said she thinks this is unfair.
“I think all students should be able to access Max, especially if it’s for academic reasons,” Goldberg said.
Rocke also said she feels the streaming platforms' limited availability could make studying or fulfilling assignments difficult for students in certain majors.
“I’m a film student, and oftentimes, I’m told to watch a movie or watch a certain decade of film that you’d have to access through a streaming service,” Rocke said.
Despite the vast array of streaming services that are available, Max is currently the only streaming service available to Elon students through their Elon accounts.
“I think more off-campus students would be frustrated if Elon had access to other streaming services and we weren’t getting any access because we lived off campus,” Goldberg said. “At the end of the day it’s just one platform that I already have access to because of my family.”
Rocke said she is hoping that more streaming services will be made available using Elon accounts.
“I would love to see Disney+ and Hulu, maybe Showtime,” Rocke said. “It would save a lot of money for Elon students.”
Carrier declined an interview with Elon News Network in favor of the university’s Information Technology office having more information. IT responded to Elon News Network’s requests for comment, but delayed comment until Monday.
For residential students who want to access Max, they can select “University Video Services” from the “Connect Your Provider Option” and log in using their university credentials.