Sure, that HBO Max - Discovery Plus hybrid service will cost more, but at least it'll also have more ads

We’ve known for a while now that Warner Bros. Discovery—having now successfully schlorped together into the entertainment industry’s latest multi-headed merger beast—was going to be jamming its two streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery+, into one similarly Frankenstein’d package. We’ve already seen plenty of effects from that move, which is expected to go into effect in spring of 2023, most notably in the form of the mass culling of projects from HBO Max’s library in order to “make room” for all that fresh Discovery reality content. Now, though, executives for the company have started talking about the nuts and bolts of the merger, revealing the exciting effects it’ll have for the home consumer. For instance, current HBO Max subscriber: How excited are you to learn that you can expect a price increase for the service, and a higher volume of ads on its ad-supported tier?

All of this very exciting news comes courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery streaming and games CEO JB Perrette, whose job seems to be mostly devoted to saying shitty things in an upbeat, positive tone that frames them as big business positives. Like stating, in a recent investors call, that prices for HBO Max—which debuted, at $15 per month, as the most expensive streamer on the market, before Netflix hold-my-beer’d its way past it with a series of recent hikes—are expected to go “north” once the Discovery+ merger went through.

And while that polar price exploration certainly sounds like quite the adventure, where Perrette sounds really excited is with some news that WBD has apparently figured out about HBO Max’s ad-supported tier, which it launched back in mid-2021 at $10 a month. See, Perrette and his team worked out that HBO Max is currently only serving up half of the ad amount that Discovery+’s similar tier was foisting on consumers, meaning that they can now easily double that amount to match it! And prices there will also be going “north”! Really, it’s the most exciting “north” news we heard since Rob Reiner tried to find Elijah Wood a mom and dad! (This joke brought to you by the year 1994.)

After all, a Perrette argues, the new hybrid service will have more content—well, less HBO Max content, but more Discovery+ reality shows that you were definitely craving in its place—so why not charge more for it, right?

[via Deadline]