HBO Max Will be Renamed This Week; What Changes are Coming to Service?

As of the time of this writing, there are just a couple of days left until Warner Bros. Discovery holds a press conference to share details about the future of streaming video at the company. The April 12 conference will serve as a launching point for WBD’s new streaming platform, which The Streamable reported in December of 2022 was likely to be named “Max.”

Although WBD has denied that the new name would be Max, the URL max.com is now registered to Markmonitor, a domain management and security firm that works with large corporations, including Warner Bros. Discovery. Until mid-February, that domain had been registered to the vitamin and supplement brand Max International.

WBD has tried to keep the service under wraps as tightly as possible, so as to ramp up the “wow” factor on April 12. But there are at least a few more details available, including what content will be on the new service and how much you can expect to pay. So keep scrolling and find out everything we know so far about Max!

How Much Will Max Cost?

Sources reported to Bloomberg in early March that the ad-supported tier of Max would be $9.99, while the ad-free plan will cost “either $15 or $16 a month.” In other words, prices will likely remain consistent with where they already are after HBO Max raised prices for the first time in history in January.

The company is also currently considering adding a third pricing plan at $20 monthly for the combined service that could feature “better video quality and possibly other features.” That would put the top tier for the service in line with Netflix’s Premium plan, which also includes higher video quality, additional simultaneous streams and downloads, and other exclusive features.

There will also be free streaming content available from WBD at some point in the near future. The company has confirmed it is also launching a free ad-supported TV (FAST) hub sometime after it completes the Max rebrand. Users should be on the lookout for WBD’s FAST platform sometime this year.

Will Max Offer a Free Trial?

This one is a little tougher to determine, and probably won’t be answered until the press conference. HBO Max used to offer all new users a free trial, but now only customers who sign up for the service through select third party platforms like Hulu and Prime Video Channels get a seven-day free preview of the service.

It may be a wise move on WBD’s part to offer a free trial to Max. It would allow leery consumers to see what the new service is all about before jumping in with both feet, and simultaneously create word of mouth about the company’s new streaming product.

What Content Will be Available on Max?

Most of the titles currently available on discovery+ will be available on the new Max platform, though there will be select titles that remain exclusive to the former service. Many of the unscripted lifestyle series, such as content from Magnolia Network, and popular lean-back style shows like Discovery’s “Shark Week” will be housed on Max.

Related: What discovery+ Titles Are Likely to be Included, Excluded From Merged HBO Streaming Service? ►

Popular HBO originals like “House of the Dragon” and “The White Lotus” will continue to stream on Max, as well. It’s highly unlikely customers will see a return of day-and-date blockbuster movie releases on the service, however. In the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call, WBD CEO David Zaslav said of the former policy of sending films directly to streaming “There was a lot of content that just wasn’t being viewed. That’s what led us to the conclusion that direct-to-streaming movies were providing really no value to us.”

There will not be a huge presence of live news and sports on the new service, at least initially. Company executives have confirmed the service won’t be used to stream NHL or NBA games right now, and that live news like CNN will remain a standalone entity. WBD CEO David Zaslav said in February the company was using lessons it had learned from offering live sports on discovery+ in Europe as a guidepost for how to integrate more sports onto Max.

“We use news and sports quite effectively in Europe, and we’ve learned a lot about when it does work and when it doesn’t,” Zaslav said.

Can You Still Subscribe to Just HBO Max or discovery+?

The bad news is that HBO Max as a standalone product is going away forever. Users will not be able to subscribe just this service by itself once the merger is complete. However, since the price is not increasing initially, users won’t really notice much of a difference except that the platform will now have more content available.

The good news is that if you’d rather just stick with a discovery+ account, you’ll still have that option. As Zaslav explained in late February, the company sees the lower-cost service as too valuable and too distinct from the new Max service to sunset entirely.

“For those that have discovery+ right now, the churn is very low and it’s profitable,” the CEO said. “Many of those people are going to want to move up to a bigger product, more robust with a bigger offering. Our strategy is ‘no sub left behind.’ We have profitable subscribers that are very happy with the product offering of discovery+. Why would we shut that off?”

What Will the User Experience on Max be Like?

This is one of the facets of Max that WBD has kept most secret. There will definitely be updates to the user interface, as Zaslav himself confirmed last November.

“We have a platform that’s not particularly good,” he said, speaking about the user experience on HBO Max. “We’ll be emerging with a new platform that we think is going to be much better and much more user-friendly.”

To find out what that will look like, users will want to circle back after April 12, when the company will presumably offer a much more detailed glimpse at the platform and its user experience. Of course, The Streamable will share the news as soon as it’s released.