Max, the New Platform that Seeks to Dominate Streaming

Just a year ago, two big American companies, WarnerMedia and Discovery, joined forces to try to grab the spotlight in the entertainment industry. Both gave life to Warner Bros. Discovery, whose mission is to become one of the world's leading broadcast companies, has developed a novel platform that seeks to dominate streaming. It's about Max.

Now, the services that were previously called HBO Max and Discovery+ will bring all their content together in one place. However, it must be noted that the fact that the initials HBO no longer stand out in the name does not mean that it will disappear completely. These will continue to play an important role in this new stage, to the point of being one of the independent categories of the platform.

When Does Max Arrive, and What Are Its Prices?

During the presentation of the new platform, the CEO, and president of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Games, JB Perette, spoke about the arrival of Max in the United States, Latin America and Europe, and about its plans and services. In addition, he presented the campaign that already seeks to include and represent all the spectators and fans of the company.

"This new branding marks a significant shift from two tighter products, HBO Max and Discovery+, to our broader content offering and consumer proposition. While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a wide range of choice for quality for all,” said Perette.

The launch of the platform for the United States is scheduled for May 23. For their part, Latin American subscribers will have to wait until the last quarter of 2023, while in Europe there is still no specific date, although everything indicates that it will be in 2024.

Regarding the plans and prices, three modalities were detailed. Max Ad Lite (ad-supported), priced at $9.99 per month, two simultaneous devices, no offline downloads, and HD 1080p resolution; Max Ad Free (without advertising), priced at $15.99 per month, similar to the previous plan but with 30 downloads available; and Max Ultimate Ad Free (Premium), with a value of $19.99 per month, four simultaneous devices, 100 offline downloads, 4K Ultra HD resolution and Dolby Atmos sound quality.

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Max and Its Date with Destiny

Another of the people who had a few minutes in Max's presentation was David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. In fact, thanks to him, the merger of both conglomerates was possible last year. "This is our moment, our opportunity. This is our appointment with destiny," he stated during the event, in addition to ensuring that WBD is the best company to tell stories and the one that causes a great effect in homes with its productions.

A no less detail that they also communicated had to do with the audience figures. And it is that WBD ended 2022 with 96.1 million streaming customers worldwide, counting HBO Max, Discovery + and other services. According to the executives, the goal that the company has set for 2025 is to reach 130 million, and for that they spared no expense to improve the features and functionality of Max.

Likewise, everything indicates that the new platform will be available on the same devices as HBO Max, so its subscribers will be able to enjoy the new updates once the launch is available in their region. Profiles, settings, history, and more will migrate so people can continue enjoying your content from where they left off.

In turn, among the improvements that we will find, there are several aspects that make this new streaming service one of the most sophisticated. They will incorporate premium video playback, one of the low points that HBO Max has; 4K UHD resolution, one of the highest demands of its subscribers; simplified navigation, which updates the design and the search engine; and improvements in the algorithm and configuration of child profiles.

The Productions that Are to Come

With the arrival of Max, the catalog of productions available to subscribers will add everything that HBO Max and Discovery+ have. On the one hand, we will continue to enjoy the originals of Max Originals, HBO, Warner Bros movies, DC content and Cartoon Network children's shows. While on the other, we will have varied family content courtesy of the Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, and ID brands.

Max's presentation also served as an excuse to announce the projects that are about to be developed. HBO's iconic series "True Detective" will return for its fourth season; the horror movie saga "The Conjuring" will have its own series; the spin-offs of recognized titles such as "Harry Potter" and "The Big Bang Theory"; another prequel to "Game of Thrones" called "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight"; while the Batman universe will be extended with "The Penguin".