This month, the price for a monthly HBO Max subscription will increase from $14.99 to $15.99.
While a $1 price increase may not seem too significant, the streaming service, as PC reports, says it is doing so to “invest in more programming,” even though it’s been “taking shows off,” as fans continue to call out on social media.
Here’s what we know:
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HBO Max has announced its first ever price hike and will increase to $15.99 a month. https://t.co/tHqrS6JeKQ pic.twitter.com/dspeljyMYf
— IGN (@IGN) January 12, 2023
HBO Max Monthly Cost Increases By $1 In January 2023
Regarding the monthly price increase, HBO Max said to customers in a statement last week, “Existing subscribers who are currently paying $14.99/month will see their monthly rate increase to $15.99 effective their next billing cycle on or after Saturday, February 11, 2023.”
The company added, “This is the first time HBO Max has increased the price of a monthly subscription since launching in May 2020.”
If comedy is all about timing, then HBO Max picked a funny time for its first price increase. https://t.co/NmcO91akWu
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) January 13, 2023
While the streaming provider stressed that this will be done to “invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” this comes after HBO Max has been “steadily removing the number of shows accessible on the service,” as PC notes.
This has since sparked countless consumer complaints on Twitter and elsewhere.
A new HBO Max ad-free monthly subscription will now cost a dollar more in the U.S. after the streaming service announced a price increase from $14.99 to $15.99. https://t.co/aKJN0c8osH pic.twitter.com/xe3rt6tuQV
— IGN (@IGN) January 12, 2023
HBO Max Customers Call Out Removal Of Popular Shows
In December 2022, HBO Max removed beloved shows like Westworld, The Nevers, Raised by Wolves and several other television series, explaining that they will instead end up on free, ad-supported streaming services.
Naturally, this upset many HBO Max subscribers, who took to Twitter to express their disappointment:
How is @hbomax justifying this price increase when they keep removing programming from it? smdh
— Cryptstine Witchlock (@StineWhitlock) January 15, 2023
Dear @hbomax, I really appreciated so much of what you do. However, I just cancelled my subscription due to your increase in price. You failed here.
— mystic (@thatgirlmystic) January 17, 2023
The early 2023 price hike— as PC points out— is happening while HBO Max parent company Warner Bros. Discovery prepares to merge the platform with Discovery+ sometime in the spring.
So nice of HBO MAX to increase the price after all the good stuff was removed!
You know things are bad when Disney+ is offering the cheaper and better deal! https://t.co/kRP72xECJK
— (@forever_gf618) January 13, 2023
This new and supposedly revamped HBO Max should receive an “influx of new content from its counterpart later this year,” the publication adds, “perhaps making it more worthwhile.” For anyone on a budget, HBO Max currently offers an ad-supported plan for $9.99 a month, its currently cheapest option.
