Max is expected to increase in price again soon, according to a new report from Bloomberg, citing “people with knowledge of the matter’ for the information. Unfortunately, the report does not provide any details on exactly how much the price might increase by.
However, it is understood that the price increase will be part of a much wider cost-cutting initiative by Warner Bros. Discovery, as the company looks to hit financial targets. For example, and in addition to the price increase, more layoffs could be on the horizon as well.
At present, the cost of Max ranges between $9.99 and $19.99 a month, depending on whether the subscriber is willing to sit through ads or wants access to 4K in addition to an ad-free viewing experience. With no firm details on how the price increase will be implemented, it remains to be seen whether all tiers will be impacted or only some.
There is also the added issue of the B/R Sports Add-On. While currently free to all Max subscribers, the idea always has been to charge an additional monthly amount for access to this sports content. If and when the price increase is implemented, and considering Warner Bros. Discovery is also expected to start charging for its sports add-on this year, some Max subscribers might begin to feel that they are paying more each month for access to less content.
B/R Sports Add-On aside, any price increase will make what is already one of the more expensive streaming services around even more expensive. At $9.99 a month, its cheapest ad-supported tier is more expensive than ad-supported tiers from Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video, among others. In fact, it is possible to bundle ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu for the current price as Max’s ad-supported plan.
Warner Bros. Discovery will report its first quarter results tomorrow, so it is possible we could learn more about any potential price increase then.
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