The New Warner Bros. Discovery Plus-HBOX Connection: Theoretical Aspects of the Bringing HBO Max and Discovery Plus
Sources close to the situation tell the NYT that the new “Max” service will offer multiple subscription tiers at different price points. That includes the $16 per month ad-free plan, which is the same price as the current ad-free HBO Max subscription, along with a cheaper ad-supported tier that I’m guessing could cost $10 per month if it follows HBO Max’s pricing.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had been planning on bringing the two services together ever since WarnerMedia merged with Discovery last year, and now that time is closely approaching. The combined service will dump Discovery Plus’ eclectic range of content, including Deadliest Catch, Property Brothers, and (my personal favorite) 90 Day Fiancé into a single vat with HBO’s more high-profile offerings, like The Last of Us and The White Lotus.
According to the NYT, Warner Bros. Discovery may launch the service as soon as the next month or two, in line with Zaslav’s previous announcement that it would push up the combined service’s launch date to the spring of this year. And while rumors suggest that Warner Bros. Discovery no longer has plans to sunset its standalone Discovery Plus app, it’s unclear if that’s still in the cards.
Wednesday’s event isn’t expected to be as flashy as the ones we’ve seen in the past (like the star-studded presentation put on by Apple in 2019). The company will make announcements during the hour-long event about the service and technological improvements.
The HBO Max App, a Channel to Watch for Millions of Homes, and Why Warner Bros. Discovery Is Interested in Streaming
CEO David Zaslav said that Max was the one to watch. It is the place where every member of the household can go to see exactly what they want at any given time.
The $19.99 per month ad-free Ultimate tier comes with 4K HDR Dolby Atmos for some content, 100 offline downloads, and four concurrent streams, while the $15.99 per month standard ad-free plan offers HD quality, two concurrent streams, and 30 offline downloads. HD quality and concurrent streams are offered by the cheapest ad-supported plan.
The Max app will have an interface that’s improved. JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s global streaming and games head, acknowledged that both the HBO Max and Discovery Plus apps have “important shortcomings” that the company will address with Max’s new interface, including a new content navigation system, personalized recommendations, and a shortcut to save content to watch later lists. Hopefully, this means Warner Bros. Discovery sorted out the bugginess that comes with the HBO Max app as well.
The goal is to build a streaming service that brings enough of a variety of content to beat out rivals like Netflix and Disney Plus. Zaslav stated in an interview that the streaming service will succeed because it is owned by the combined company.
“Netflix is a great company, Disney is a great company, but we have a portfolio of content that is very diverse and broadly appealing,” Zaslav said at the time. “We think it could be [up to] 400 million homes over the long term.”
Users are already locked into their favorite streaming services, meaning that Warner Bros. will have to find a way to increase subscriber numbers in a landscape where there is a pattern of price hikes. Is having a huge variety of content enough to do that? We will find out soon.