HBO Max is going to change completely: discount day in the Netherlands?

It’s official: next year, HBO Max will also merge with Discovery Plus in the Netherlands. New tariffs have already been announced in the United States. Can we also say goodbye to our lifetime discount here?

In April of last year, the proverbial bullet went through the church: Warner Bros. and Discovery, Inc. went together. As a result, David Zaslav is the new CEO at the helm of the resulting mega-company. A businessman known for his hyper-commercial and frugal policies. The man behind the transformation that the Discovery channels have undergone in recent years. One calls it trash, the other loves it.

HBO Max and Discovery Plus go hand in hand

Shortly after the merger, Zaslav announced that the streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus would merge. That was planned sometime before the summer of 2023. You blink once, and suddenly it’s April 2023. On Wednesday night, the long-awaited big news came out: HBO Max is going away.

Okay, here’s the thing: HBO Max and Discovery Plus are merging, resulting in a new streaming service called Max. Therefore, the old HBO Max is disappearing. The reason we emphasize that is that Discovery Plus will continue to exist as a separate streaming service. This brings us to the sneaky part of this decision.

HBO Max becomes Max next year, with HBO Originals, hit shows, movies, reality TV and more. More details will be revealed closer to launch. pic.twitter.com/o7MBacLhKg

— HBO Max Netherlands (@hbomaxnl) April 12, 2023

New rates and Holland

The public that for a low price reality-If you want to watch content and don’t need HBO’s premium content, you can stick with Discovery Plus. The audience that shows how game of Thrones, Succession in Harry Potter If you want to stay on HBO Max, you can say goodbye to the current low rates. Nothing has been announced yet about the new Dutch prices, but the new prices in america not a good omen. The cheapest plan out there is $9.99, and then you also have ads. Want to stream 4K? So you will lose $19.99 per month there.

It goes without saying that Warner Bros. Discovery will also be playing with the prices in the Netherlands. On Twitter, the Dutch HBO Max account has already announced that the streaming service here will only transform into Max sometime in 2024, where they will have to say goodbye to the old situation in the United States in May.

Sneaky ending for a lifetime discount?

But even if the prices here in the Netherlands don’t skyrocket, we still have the big one. elephant in the room When HBO Max launched in the Netherlands in March last year, there was a spectacular draw: anyone who signed up immediately received “fifty percent off forever.” As long as the streaming service exists. You can already feel it coming: Max is a new streaming service, technically speaking. So there’s a good chance, especially with a CEO like Zaslav, that people will use that excuse to make you pay full price. Indirectly, therefore, you will still have to deal with a price increase. Well this is pure speculation for now. On Twitter, the Dutch HBO Max account only says that it “wants to provide more clarity on fees, including deals, later.”

Cost details including deals will be revealed closer to launch ????

— HBO Max Netherlands (@hbomaxnl) April 12, 2023

A truckload of new content

So is there any good news? Certainly. With Discovery Plus, HBO Max subscribers are suddenly getting a huge amount of content. From programs in which homes are rehabilitated to sports programs. Just look at the Discovery Plus website – it’s beyond flimsy realitytelevision, but there’s no getting around the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery is bridging two extremes with this move.

The resulting total package may be more complete or even stronger, but as a consumer you have to ask yourself if this is something you ordered. The company itself markets Max as “the one to watch.” “Is the one to look atbecause every member of the family can see exactly what they want to see at any given time”, says David Zaslav.

There will also be a new welcome app for Max. JB Perrette, the company’s head of streaming and gaming, acknowledged during the announcement that both the HBO Max and Discovery Plus apps have “significant deficiencies” that the company will address with Max’s new interface, which includes a new navigation system. content and better personalized recommendations. .

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