HBO Max had a great start during its debut. However, over the last year or so, the service has drastically changed throughout the Warner Bros and Discovery merger. Now it’s been revealed that HBO Max will actually be raising the price of its ad-free tier.
This news comes via Deadline. Interestingly, they note that this will be “the first uptick in pricing since the streaming service launched in May 2020.” This will impact the subscribers that currently pay $14.99.
As stated below, the new HBO Max ad-free tier price will be $1.00 higher at $15.99 a month:
“The increase means existing subscribers who are currently paying $14.99 will see their monthly rate go up to $15.99 as of their next billing cycle on or after February 11.”
The company also added the following statement to explain the price increase, citing more programming and a better experience as their top reasons:
“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,” they shared.
Of course, this might not be shocking news. A majority of streaming services have been implementing price hikes as of late. In fact, Netflix is one such service, though the increase with HBO Max means it now surpasses Netflix’s most popular subscription plan at $15.49.
Many other changes are expected to happen at HBO Max. The streaming service is expected to merge with Discovery Plus this spring. As such, it seems possible that not only will prices change, but so too could the name. The most recent reports suggest that “HBO” could be removed from the title entirely. As such, we’ll have to see what Warner Bros Discovery has planned.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates regarding HBO Max and other popular streaming services as we have them. For now, however, expect your $14.99 subscriptions to go up to $15.99 very soon.