Warner Bros. Discovery Announces Details on Renamed Max Streaming Service

HBO Max is just becoming Max in May, with Warner Bros. Discovery announcing details on the new combined streaming service. WBD held a press event on Wednesday announcing details on the new service, which will essentially combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into one service. The announcement notes that Max will launch on May 23rd and will align with existing HBO Max monthly costs.

The service will include HBO Max offerings like HBO Originals, Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, and DC universe content along with Discovery content from the likes of HGTV, Discovery Channel, and TD. The pricing plans will generally stay the same, outside of the fact that the $15.99 a month Ad Free plan will now only offer two concurrent streams as opposed to the three that were previously allowed. In addition, there will be a new “Ultimate Ad Free” plan that allows four concurrent streams, up to 4K UHD resolution, and Dolby-Atmos sound quality.

The pricing breaks down as follows:

* Max Ad-Lite | $9.99/month or $99.99/year
2 concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, no offline downloads, 5.1 surround sound quality

* Max Ad Free | $15.99/month or $149.99/year
2 concurrent streams, 1080 resolution, 30 offline downloads, 5.1 surround sound quality

* Max Ultimate Ad Free | $19.99/month or $199.99/year
4 concurrent streams, up to 4K UHD resolution, 100 offline downloads, Dolby Atmos sound quality

Existing HBO Max subscribers will have access to Max at the same price as their HBO Max subscription and will have access to their current plan features for a minimum of six months following launch. HBO Max subscribers’ profiles, settings, watch history, “Continue Watching,” and “My List” items will migrate to Max. You can visit this link for more details.

The announcement noted the following new features for Max:

Premium Video Playback: A new video playback experience will deliver smooth and cinematic video to users, wherever and however they prefer to watch. Whether binging their favorites, watching offline on-the-go, or tuning in on Sunday nights for the latest episode of Succession, users can count on seamlessly diving into their preferred worlds.

Personalization: Max will expand personalization beyond just the home page, offering a differentiated and high-performing experience for every user across the whole service. By significantly increasing our investment in machine learning while maintaining an editorial voice, Max will deliver a unique human and machine approach that will help surface the best content for our users.

More Prominent Kids Experience: At launch, Max will introduce a default kids profile for new subscribers along with accompanying parental controls. Parents can choose to customize settings and select to limit content for the kids profile by ratings: little kids (tv-y), big kids (tv-y7, tvy7-fv), big kids plus (tv-g, g), preteens (tv-pg/pg), or teens (tv-14, pg-13). Parents will also have the ability to set individual profile PINs to lock access to their adult profiles, as well as a parent code to lock their children inside of the Max kids experience.

Simplified Navigation: Max works harder so viewers don’t have to. Streamlined categories, improved content details pages, shortcuts, dedicated brand hubs and thematic content rails, make exploring the app and discovering new interests easier. The updated design coupled with a better personalization engine will help consumers quickly find and discover the best of what they are looking for.

4K UHD: The Ultimate Ad-Free tier of Max will have an expanded catalog of content available in 4K UHD including key programming such as Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight Trilogy and more. All Warner Bros. movies released this year and going forward will also be available in 4K UHD when they arrive on Max following their theatrical windows.