David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, plans to make HBO more expensive, and passwords a lot harder to share, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Zaslav shared his general outlook on the state of television at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, with the main theme being that HBO Max's content is good and Zaslav thinks he should be charging a lot more for it.
"The fact that this is quality — and that’s true across our company, motion picture, TV production and streaming quality — we all think that gives us a chance to raise prices," Zaslav said. "We think we’re way underpriced." HBO Max most recently raised prices in 2024, back when it was temporarily called Max. As of right now you can get an entry-level Basic with Ads plan for $9.99 per month, while the ad-free Premium plan costs $20.99 per month. Zaslav clearly thinks he can get more, though.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been more open about its plans to address password-sharing. During an earnings call in August, the company said it wanted to close all loopholes for sharing passwords by the end of the year. While it's great that people continue to be drawn to HBO content, "it’s all tricky with the password sharing," Zaslav said. "We’re going to begin to push on that."
Price hikes and password sharing crackdowns have been thoroughly normalized by Netflix and other streamers. HBO Max following suit should be more than expected. Stating those plans so plainly doesn't improve the image of Zaslav as a Hollywood villain, but that's the least of his worries given the planned break-up of Warner Bros. Discovery.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/hbo-max-is-going-to-get-a-lot-more-expensive-ceo-promises-221656560.html?src=rss
