Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had been planning to bring the two services together ever since WarnerMedia merged with Discovery last year, and now that time is drawing near. The combined service will remove the eclectic range of content from Discovery Plus, which includes Deadliest Catch, Property Brothersand (my personal favourite) 90 day fianceé in a single tank with the most outstanding offers from HBO, such as The last of us and He white lotus.
Sources close to the situation inform the NOW that the new “Max” service will offer multiple subscription levels at different prices. That includes the $16 a month ad-free plan, which is the same price as the current ad-free HBO Max subscription, along with a cheaper ad-supported tier that I guess could cost $10 a month if you follow HBO’s pricing. Max.
It’s hard for me to imagine HBO Max and Discovery Plus being a good fit together. Sure, you’ll have a wide variety of content from a single hub, but by viewing game of Thrones beside Dr Pimple Popper it will only be… strange. I just hope Discovery Plus stays as a standalone service given that it’s so much cheaper at $4.99 per month with ads and it also has a lot of really dumb and weird shows that I sadly admit I enjoy watching.
Wednesday’s event isn’t expected to be as flashy as ones we’ve seen in the past (like Apple’s star-studded presentation in 2019). The company will reportedly introduce the name of the service and technology updates, as well as incorporate some movie and TV show announcements during the hour-long event.
While Warner Bros. Discovery is hoping to reach 130 million subscribers on HBO, HBO Max and Discovery Plus by 2025, it added just 1.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing its total to 96.1 million globally. Obviously, the company expects “Max” to increase those fees, but it remains to be seen if it will actually attract new subscribers who don’t already have either service. Max is going to have to do something drastic, whether it’s adding amazing content or more competitive pricing, if he wants to be known by more than his unimaginative name.
