Warner Bros. Discovery will soon be moving forward with its still-unnamed streaming platform that will merge HBO Max with content from Discovery+. The biggest concern of the strategic shift was what the price would be in order to foot the bill for the new structure which would add thousands of shows to the catalog. As it turns out, fans of the premium streamer can breathe a sigh of relief as a report from Bloomberg revealed the old pricing plan will mostly stay in place.
As is the case with HBO Max right now, the new streamer will come with an ad-supported plan that costs $10 per month along with a pricier ad-free subscription remaining in the range of $15 to $16. The key difference, however, is the addition of a premium plan for viewers who want to view HBO's signature shows in as high a quality as possible. That new plan will cost $20 a month in comparison and potentially include other new features. For anyone who doesn't go with that option, however, the merged platform will essentially be a straight upgrade on what HBO Max has left for no cost.
The David Zaslav regime has eyed a new, merged streamer for some time now, originally planning for a full combination of HBO Max and Discovery+. It was reported back in February, however, that those plans were scrapped in favor of keeping the latter as a cheaper, standalone service in order to retain customers uninterested in paying the extra cost. Warner Bros. Discovery still wanted to take advantage of the "complementary content" of the two platforms considering HBO Max mostly churns out premium scripted cable content like The White Lotus, House of the Dragon, and The Last of Us while Discovery+ plays host to reality and factual unscripted series like Dr. Pimple Popper and 90 Day Fiancé.
Although no name has been officially picked for the relaunched platform, reports say that Max is still being strongly considered. Whatever the name is, the HBO branding will almost certainly be scrubbed from the title. The Wrap recently confirmed a report that insiders at Warner Bros. Discovery were concerned that the HBO name was a turnoff to potential new customers. That notion is particularly confusing considering the streamer remains among the top five most-subscribed streaming services in the country with 76.1 million users and HBO as a whole has stayed at the cultural forefront with its acclaimed programming.
Warner Bros. Discovery Will Have More Information on the Future of HBO Max Soon
Warner Bros. Discovery will reveal more details of the HBO Max relaunch on April 12 with the new platform expected to roll out in the weeks thereafter. Additionally, the company is expected to give an update on its previously-proposed FAST service. Ever since mass cancelations began under their umbrella, plans have been in place to create a competitor to streamers like Freevee, Pluto TV, and Tubi in order to house content outside their paid platform. In the interim, shows like Westworld and The Nevers have been shipped off to third-party FASTs to keep them around while cutting costs.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the new streaming platform.