Existing HBO Max subscribers will see their bills go up by nearly 7% in the next billing cycle concluding on or after February 11. This development comes shortly after HBO Max removed vast quantities of content from the streaming platform in order to cut expenses. Westworld and hundreds of classic cartoons like Sesame Street were caught in the crossfire. This added on top of the previous cancellations which included three seasons of The Flintstones and an HBO Max original series “Minx”, which previously received a Season 2 renewal. “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,” HBO said in the press release addressing the public. It’s important to note that their ad-supported plan, which was introduced in June 2021, will keep its $9.99 per month cost for now. The pricing on the streaming platform had stayed the same since its launch, back when AT&T owned Warner Media. But this move should come as no surprise to anyone given HBO’s directions recently. Warner Bros. Media merged with Discovery in April 2022, and changes have been underway ever since. With plans to launch a new streaming platform called Max in the spring of 2023 by merging HBO Max and Discovery Plus, funding will be crucial for the new streaming juggernaut. The conglomerate has lost half of its market cap since the merger, going from $60 billion right after merging to $30 billion less than a year later.
— The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) January 11, 2023 Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav even admitted to the financial struggles recently, saying “it’s going to be hard” when asked about the company’s 2023 financial forecast of $12 billion. And they aren’t the only streaming service feeling the financial contraction that many analysts predicted for 2023. Netflix has problems as well while other tech giants like Apple are setting their sights on something new.
