The streaming home of Game of Thrones. Succession, The Last of Us, and more is taking on Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu with its new slate of Discovery content along with live sports and CNN. But like its competitors, Max has revamped its subscription plans, and that meant yanking 4K streaming from many ad-free (and now ticked-off) subscribers.
So, why is Max messing with its pricing tiers, and why did it merge with Discovery+ and drop the “HBO” from its name in the first place? Read on for answers about your burning Max questions.
The new Max: Your questions answered
Why did HBO Max merge with Discovery+?
The decision to put content from HBO Max and Discovery+ under one roof came amid the 2022 merger of HBO parent WarnerMedia with Discovery.
At the time, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said the companies “believe in a combined product” that would be “one, very, very strong combined direct-to-consumer product and platform” as opposed to a bundle of different services.
Why did HBO Max lose the “HBO” branding and become “Max”?
According to Warner Bros. Discovery execs, the idea behind the new “Max” name is to convey that the newly combined streamer offers a little of everything, including programming for kids, rather than being focused on HBO’s brand of premium “adult” shows.
“This new brand signals an important change from two narrower products, HBO Max and Discovery+, to our broader content offering,” said JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming president, in a press release. “While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody.”
How much does a Max subscription cost?
With the arrival of the new Max in May 2023 came new subscription plans, and here they are:
- Max Ad-Lite: $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, 2 streams, 1080p, no offline downloads, 5.1 audio
- Max Ad Free: $15.99 a month or $149.99 a year, 2 streams, 1080p, 30 offline downloads, 5.1 audio
- Max Ultimate Ad Free: $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, 4 streams, up to 4K resolution, 100 offline downloads, Dolby Atmos audio
Why did Max remove 4K streaming for some ad-free users?
Many legacy HBO Max users subscribed to the standard $14.99-a-month ad-free plan were caught off guard in early November when they got emails from the streamer, telling them that a) their prices wouldn’t be going up (yay!) and b) they were about to lose 4K and Dolby Atmos support, and would soon be restricted to just two streams, down from 3 (ugh).
Starting next month, those Max users will need to subscribe to the $19.99/month “ultimate” ad-free plan for 4K streaming and 4 concurrent streams.
While the announcement came as an unwelcome surprise to many Max subscribers, the truth is that Max announced those changes back in May 2023 when it first rolled out its new pricing scheme.
At the time, Max promised former HBO Max users–who, before the Max re-brand, had been paying $14.99 a month for 4K streaming plus extra streams–that they’d be able to keep those features for at least six months.
Well, as of November 2023, those six months are up.
That doesn’t lessen the sting for former HBO Max subscribers who are about to lose 4K streaming access, but that (unfortunately) is the deal–and yes, it’s a de facto price hike.
What’s on the new Max?
Rather than just a portal for streaming HBO movies and TV shows, Max now offers a much wider variety of content. From Discovery+, Max is getting shows from such home and lifestyle brands as HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, TLC, and ID.
So besides such grown-up fare as Chernobyl, Euphoria, and True Detective, Max now serves up shows like House Hunters International, Property Brothers, Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay, Say Yes to the Dress, and Little People, Big World.
Max execs are also promising a variety of new titles, including a forthcoming Harry Potter series, a comedy “derived” from The Big Bang Theory, another Game of Thrones prequel, a show based on The Conjuring movies, and the latest True Detective season with Jodie Foster.
Does Max offer any live sports or news?
After streaming a series of live U.S. soccer matches in early 2023, Max rolled out a live sports offering as a $9.99 add-on in October.
Dubbed the Bleacher Report Sports Add-On, the package includes a “full slate” of Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, NBA, and U.S. Soccer events, along with NCAA March Madness matchups.
Existing Max subscribers will be able to stream the Bleacher Report Sports Add-On for free through February 29, 2024. After that, the add-on will cost $9.99 a month, in addition to your regular Max subscription. The add-on will be available to all Max subscribers, including those on Max’s ad-supported tier.
Max also offers live news via CNN on Max, a 24/7 news channel powered by CNN and starring some of the network’s most famous faces.
Available to all Max subscribers for no extra charge, CNN on Max includes such news programming as CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, Rachel Solomon, Amara Walker and Fredricka Whitfield, and CNN Newsroom with Jim Sciutto. Sciutto anchors breaking news coverage in the afternoons.
Can I still subscribe to Discovery+ on its own?
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: The original plan was to consolidate HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single service and then eliminate the standalone services, but Warner Bros. Discovery subsequently backtracked on that idea.
Instead, Discovery+ stuck around after all. Initially, the ad-free version of Discovery+ kept its original $6.99-a-month price, but by October 2023, the no-ads rate went up to $8.99/month.
The ad-supported Discovery+ tier still costs $4.99 a month.
You can sign up for a free trial of Discovery+ right here (assuming you’re a new subscriber).
Where is the new Max available, and when will it launch in other regions?
For now, the new Max is available only in the United States.
That said, Max is slated to arrive in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Southeast Asia next year.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.