In August 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge into a single service. The move is part of a series of strategic moves aimed at restructuring the media conglomerate. Also, at the time, the company mentioned that the nascent platform would debut under a brand new name. Well, we already know.
According to information from Bloomberga service that will combine the catalogs of HBO Max and Discovery + will be called Max. Warner Bros. Discovery intends to release it during 2023, starting in the US and Canada. However, it won’t take long to see it in other territories as they will need to distribute the “updated” image around the world as soon as possible.
Without a doubt, ditching the HBO name is a risky move. Especially since recently HBO has gained recognition for offering quality series and movies.
However, it seems that the public’s perception of this brand contrasts with the data that Warner has. According to the same report, the company believes that the HBO name is “off-putting to many potential subscribers”.. For this reason, they preferred to bet exclusively on Max.
The successor to HBO Max will not rise in price
Besides, Bloomberg shares some details regarding the offer of affordable plans and their respective cost. Luckily for viewers, all indications are that Max will not raise current prices despite integrating more content – Discovery+ content -.
Board of Directors of Warner Bros. Discovery, led by David Zaslav, is well aware that competition among video streaming services is stronger than ever. If Max had started his journey by raising prices, the public would have reacted negatively. It is for this reason, at least initially, that they do not plan to test the strength of their subscribers.
So we suspect that Max boasts not only of keeping the same pricing as HBO Max, but also of adding a huge number of Discovery+ series, movies, and documentaries at no extra charge. A priori, the proposal sounds attractive.
Now the source mentions that Max will present a higher plan It is obvious it will be more expensive. This level will be different from others by offering higher quality video playback; apparently counting on an increase in resolution and bitrate. The company plans to add other exclusive features as well, though these have not been revealed at this time.
The monthly cost of Max’s new premium subscription will be $20 per month. That’s $5 more than the current standard plan. Of course, this cost, as it is today, will be adapted for each region depending on its economic situation.
The last time Warner Bros. Discovery reported on the number of HBO Max subscribers back in February. According to them, the platform already has 96.1 million users worldwide.
Will supporting prices and offering more content be enough to convince more people to join the Max bandwagon? We will find out in the coming months. Bloomberg claims that the conglomerate will host an event in April to share all the details.
Source: Hiper Textual
