MAX No Longer Launching Sports Tier, Sports Still Available For Standard and Premium Levels

Variety reports that Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to move forward with plans to launch a premium tier for sports programming on Max. The plans were originally announced in September 2023. Sports programming will still be available for standard and premium subscribers, however.

WBD President and CEO of Global Streaming and Games, JB Perrette, said: “Over the last year plus, we had the opportunity to assess how users engage with sports and news on Max, and we’ve been actively involved in exploring ways to evolve the sports distribution ecosystem in the U.S. We believe that the best place for that content for now is within the Standard and Premium tiers. This update ensures that subscribers can continue to enjoy that coveted access within Max, while also enabling ongoing investment in our premium sports and news portfolio.”

This comes as WBD is set to lose rights to the NBA at the end of the current season, which means an add-on sports tier wouldn’t have as much value to customers. WBD has since acquired rights to the French Open and some college football championship games. The service also recently added AEW programming to its service. Attempts to move CNN to Max may be hampered by CNN’s plans to launch new products for digital and mobile users.