Of all the streaming services out there, HBO Max has looked like the one in the most turmoil lately, what with newly formed parent company Warner Bros. Discovery laying off employees and removing content. Both Westworld and The Nevers left HBO Max to be aired on FAST (free ad-supported television) services. Warner Bros. Discovery also removed old episodes of Sesame Street, hundreds of classic Looney Tunes shorts and three seasons of The Flintstones. And that’s on top of canceling projects like the second season of Minx or the Batgirl movie.
Warner Bros. Discovery has said that it’s done with its purges, but still, that’s a lot of bloodletting. You’d think this was the worst time to announce a price hike on top of everything else, but that’s what happening, according to Variety.
At $14.99 per month, HBO Max was already among the most expensive streaming services on offer. Effective today, that price will rise to $15.99 for the ad-free tier, an increase of 7%. There’s no word on whether HBO Max will also raise the price of its ad-supported subscription plan, which currently costs $9.99 per month.
How do you feel about paying more money for less content?
“This price increase of one dollar will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” the company said in a statement. Very business. Much synergy.
We’ve known that a price increase was coming for a while, but the timing still feels rough. One bright spot: this spring, HBO Max is set to combine with Discovery+, which will mean a slew of new content, most of it unscripted. That might be worth an extra dollar a month, but we don’t know what WBD will charge for that.
We don’t know what the combined service will be called yet, but word is that the most popular choice internally is Max. Just Max.
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