HBO Max is joining the ranks of streaming services getting more expensive. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO Max, announced today that the ad-free HBO Max plan will increase from $15 per month to $16 per month for both new and existing subscribers.
The price increase goes into effect for new subscribers just now signing up for HBO Max immediately. Existing subscribers will see the price increase reflected in their next billing cycle on or after February 11. In a statement, HBO Max said that this price increase will help it continue investing in programming and user experience:
“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 explained. The price of the ad-supported HBO Max tier will remain the same at $9.99 per month.
As The Verge points out, however, the price increase comes amid the WarnerMedia merger with Discovery and questions about the future of content on HBO Max. HBO Max has recently removed the back catalogs of some of its most popular TV shows, and those shows are expected to resurface on other streaming platforms in the future.
9to5Mac’s Take
This $1 price increase for HBO Max is actually a bit lower than price increases that have affected other streaming services. Apple TV+ recently increased in price from $4.99 per month to $6.99, while Disney+’s ad-free tier recently went from $7.99 per month to $10.99 per month.
The issue, again, is that the price increase for HBO Max comes as the streaming service loses some of its most popular content, like Westworld. Sometime this spring, HBO Max and Discovery Plus are expected to be merged into a single app, but there are still questions about how that will ultimately shake out for users.
But even with HBO Max’s price increase being lower than other streaming services, the aggregate effect of each service increasing prices is surely starting to impact subscribers. Have you canceled any services recently because of these price increases? Let us know in the comments.
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