HBO Max Hits Subscribers with First Price Hike

HBO Max is following suit with many other subscription services and raising the price of its ad-free plan for the first time.

The price hike, effectively immediately, will increase the price of an HBO Max no-ads monthly subscription from $14.99 to $15.99. The company claimed in a statement that the one-dollar price increase will “allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users.”

HBO Max received heat from some subscribers a few months ago after removing several shows such as “Westworld” and “Raised by Wolves” as a result of cost cuts, according to CNN.

HBO Max has plans to merge with Discovery+ in the spring of this year. Details of the merger are not yet available, but currently, between the HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services, there are nearly 95 million global subscribers, per CNN. 

Apple TV+ and Disney+ are among some of the other streaming services that have recently raised prices on subscription packages.