Well, good news, fellow HBO Max fans. Even as the best streaming service merges with one of its corporate siblings, it will apparently keep its current price, at least to start. A new report that previews tomorrow's big Warner Bros. Discovery press event just revealed that good news.
The New York Times reports that "three people with knowledge of the decision" say this new streaming service emerging from the HBO Max and Discovery Plus merger "will cost roughly $16 a month." HBO Max fans aware of its recent price increase will note that, luckily, that's the same price they pay now.
If you haven't heard, HBO Max is to be replaced by a new super-service that features everything from Succession to Guy's Grocery Games. Yes, Real Time with Bill Maher will sit side by side with Dr. Pimple Popper. Which sounds like something that would irk the talk show host.
And, as one could have expected, "there will be several price tiers, including a less expensive one with advertising." Currently, ad-supported HBO Max costs $9.99 per month. This, essentially, would mean that HBO Max users may be getting a lot of content from the Discovery Plus service for free.
This new streaming service — still expected to simply be called 'Max' — is supposed to debut in the next couple of months. We've heard the odd 'Max' moniker since a December 2022 report leaked it as the execs' choice. They also plan to keep Discovery Plus as a standalone service.
Here's how the services are currently priced:
Analysis: No price hike makes sense for what WBD has taken from HBO Max
This is all happening because, around a year ago, Discovery acquired WarnerMedia from AT&T, creating the mega-company of Warner Bros. Discovery. And since last summer, we've all seen the company doing its best to clear the acquired financial debts — of roughly $50 billion USD.
Layoffs, unsurprisingly, happened, and WBD execs also took axes to upcoming titles and previously-hosted content. There were reported financial benefits to HBO Max's Batgirl movie being canceled, even after after Warner put $90 million into it.
A glut of animated content was removed from HBO Max, many HBO Max original films also disappeared from the service, and even HBO shows such as Westworld left the service. Westworld is now on Roku and Tubi, where it can make ad-revenue for WBD, instead of just sitting in HBO Max's library — where it was apparently not viewed enough to be deemed necessary.
All of those cuts, combined, have taken some of the shine off of HBO Max, but it's not the only reason why a lack of a price hike makes sense. HBO Max customers aren't necessarily members of the audience following Discovery's unscripted programming, and a forced price hike for the already pricey $16 per month service could push people to leave. At least once Succession season 4 — which is easily one of the best HBO Max shows — is over.
But, we should note, a price hike still seems inevitable. Just giving away that Discovery content for no extra charge doesn't make sense. WBD's aforementioned plan for a number of tiers, though, could be the key to figuring out how the math works.
