HBO Max and Discovery+ to be Max with lots of new content coming - The UpStream

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HBO Max and Discovery+ to be Max with lots of new content coming

posted Tuesday Apr 18, 2023 by Scott Ertz

HBO Max and Discovery+ to be Max with lots of new content coming

Since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc., the future of HBO Max and Discovery+ seemed obvious. There was no way that the new Warner Bros. Discovery would maintain two competing platforms - they were always destined to become one. Now we know the name of the future service, its launch date, and some of the new content to expect.

HBO Max without the HBO

It appears that HBO Max will be the service that survives, with a slightly altered name. With the addition of the former Discovery+ content, HBO Max will be losing the HBO, becoming Max. This change will take effect in the US on May 23, 2023.

The pricing for the service will look similar to that of HBO Max, with three pricing plans. The first is called Ad-Lite and will run $10 per month and will offer HD-quality streams on two devices at once. What the service lacks is what we have come to expect from basic streaming services. You will not get the ability to download any content for offline viewing, and you will be watching ads during the programming.

The next price plan, called Ad-Free, removes the ads and adds 30 downloads for offline viewing, and will cost $16 per month. If you are an existing subscriber, you might notice that the service will still only offer HD streaming, while the current HBO Max tier offers 4K for the same price. Unfortunately, that feature will not be carried over to the new service.

The final tier, Ultimate, will cost $20 per month. This tier will be the one that includes 4K streaming on up to 4 devices at the same time and moves from 30 downloads to 100 downloads for offline viewing.

New Max content

Along with the future name of the service and its pricing, Warner Bros. Discovery also announced a big slate of content coming to the service. To start with, the company intends to bring live sports to the platform - something that had not been attempted previously. Other streaming services have struggled with live sports, but Amazon proved that it can be done. HBO Max did fail during the premiere of House of The Dragons, though, so anything is possible here.

Speaking of the Game of Thrones universe, Max will have another prequel to the series. The series will have a very long title, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Night, and will be based on Tales of Dunk and Egg - a century before the core series. Unfortunately, we do now know when this series will launch.

Another major franchise coming to the streaming service is Harry Potter. A new TV series based on the books will be coming to the service. The series is described as being faithful to the novels and will feature a new cast. The company has made a huge 10 year commitment to the series. This does not mean 10 seasons of the show, but that it will air over the next decade. Once again, we do not have a release date, which is not surprising as casting and production have not begun.

If you're a fan of The Conjuring, then we've got good news for you, as well. A series based in that universe will also be coming to the platform. The original producing team from the 2013 film and its sequel will return to the franchise, despite having moved on to bigger and better things in the decade since the first film.

Rounding out the existing franchises getting Max TV adaptations is The Batman, a version of Batman that does not live within the upcoming reboot of the DCU. The new series, The Penguin, will exist in this world and will feature the return of Colin Farrell in the lead role. The project has already entered production and is expected to hit the service sometime in 2024.

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