According to Deadline, Warner Bros Discovery has just abandoned their plans to combine both HBO Max and Discovery+ into one, unified streaming service. The multimedia conglomerate will instead continue to offer Discovery+ as its own product as it moves ahead with the springtime launch of an extensive service featuring programming from HBO Max and Discovery+.
As written by Deadline, the story was originally reported by The Wall Street Journal, who cited unidentified individuals familiar with the strategic decision that said they felt Discovery+ subscribers might be hesitant at the prospect of paying a higher price for a combined service. Currently, the ad-free monthly subscription rate for HBO Max is $15.99 a month, over three times the $4.99 monthly rate for Discovery+.
Warner Bros Discovery executives have been mulling over the decision to combine the two services into a single, combined option throughout the past several months. HBO Max itself has already featured more and more Discovery programs as of late, though the decision to fuse the drastic gap between HBO Max prestige and Discovery’s less acclaimed reputation have been questioned by many people both inside and outside the company.
As Deadline writes, Warner Bros Discovery’s plan going forward is to continue to have Discovery+ remain running as their fresh rebranded HBO combo service hits the market sometime during the spring of 2023. Rumor has it that HBO Max will likely be renamed Max during the merger as a way to reflect its more diverse subscriber orientation and ongoing plans to move past its premium-cable origins.
Concurrently, with Warner Bros Discovery continuing to pursue its very own subscription service, the company has reached a deal with Roku and Tubi to license a great deal of shows from both Warner Bros Television and HBO. They are also planning to launch FAST channels at some point later in the year. For more on the Warner Bros/ HBO merger, check out our other articles here and here.