Copyright Vulture
Like the flu, the streaming-price-hike contagion is back in full swing this season. The latest outbreak: HBO Max is raising prices on all of its plans, “effective immediately,” parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced. Fees are going up by $1 to $2 for the monthly plans and $10 to $20 for the annual subscriptions. New subscribers can expect to pay the new rates immediately, while existing customers should expect to be notified 30 days ahead of their next plan renewal and see the increases reflected in their billing on or after November 20. Here’s the full breakdown of the new prices. HBO Max Basic With Ads Monthly: was $9.99, now $10.99 (+$1) Annually: was $99.99, now $109.99 (+$10) HBO Max Standard Monthly: was $16.99, now $18.49 (+$1.50) Annual: was $169.99, now $184.99 (+$15) HBO Max Premium Monthly: was $20.99, now $22.99 (+$2) Annual: was 209.99, now $229.99 (+$20) Right as WBD announced this price hike, the company also dropped that it was looking to sell itself off. The company said it was doing “a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value,” a.k.a. a sale, in a press release this morning, adding that it had received “unsolicited interest” from multiple buyers looking at “both the entire company and Warner Bros.” by which they mean the streaming and studios business, as a stand-alone asset. That announcement made its stock pop by 10 percent as trading began. In other words, rather than break up the company, an acquisitive buyer like, say, David Ellison could very well reshape Hollywood’s media landscape and scoop up all of Warner Bros. Discovery in the near future, in addition to Paramount Global — one scenario we’ve explored the potential ramifications of before. The move to hike prices on HBO Max is a sweetener in service of that goal. Despite changing its name roughly a thousand times, the company has only raised prices incrementally in the five-and-a-half years since its launch. CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels likely felt they could milk their streaming customers a little more before the inevitable cash-out.
