HBO Max gets pricier, raises subscription costs across the board

What you need to know

• HBO Max slid in a pricing hike today (Oct 21), which has already gone into effect for users signing up for the service.
• The company's three plans, Basic with ads, Standard, and Premium have risen to $19.99, $18.49, and $22.99, respectively.
• In 2024, when it was just Max, the service raised prices for its basic plans and its yearly packages.

Another streaming service has started raising prices, and it's a reality that the company was already prepared to bring forward.

It was a little quiet, but 9to5Google spotted a pricing change to HBO Max's available subscriptions earlier today (Oct 21). The streaming platform's "Plans and Prices" page now details a $1 to $2 price hike across its plans for consumers. Viewers with the "Basic with ads" plan will now see a monthly $10.99 bill, while those with the "Standard" subscription find a higher $18.49 monthly bill.

HBO Max is bringing a similar $2 price hike to its "Premium" package, taking things up to $22.99 per month.

Curiously, these changes were reportedly brewing for a while now, as 9to5 reiterates a previous statement by the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav. According to Zaslav in September, the subscription prices of HBO Max were supposedly "way underpriced," and the company was looking into correcting that—à la the changes we're seeing today.

In the process...

These pricing changes have gone into effect today (Oct 21), as the service's landing page now reflects its lower (and slightly higher) Basic with ads plan. Joining this price hike is a report from Deadline, stating that the parent company of HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery, is seeking to split sometime around mid-2026 (via Android Police). It's been reported that the company has received "multiple offers" from different buyers for all of Warner Bros/Discovery.

Deadline adds that this split could result in two "standalone public companies" called "Warner Bros." and "Discovery Global."

While HBO Max has flip-flopped between names these past few years, last year, when it was just Max, it raised prices. Last summer was when the hike came through, pushing its Ad-Free plan and 4K plan to $16.99 and $20.99, respectively. The yearly plans reflected those smaller plan changes, too, jumping to $169.99 and $209.99 per year. The streaming service also underwent some changes, like its competitors, cracking down on password sharing.

The company pushed for such a change after its earnings in 2022 and 2023 were reportedly down. It attributed those "losses" to users sharing passwords, instead of those users creating their own accounts with their own subscription plan.