Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I like how there are some people reacting negatively to the pricing online like it’s going to lead them to the poor house or starve. When some of these same people buy hundreds of dollars of Blu-rays and DVDs every month that they don’t even fucking watch and throw on a shelf or in the closet unopened for years. When here you still get all you can watch content every month for less than the price of one disc. And no one is pressuring you to keep up with everything. It’s simply not possible.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

The $16.66 per month price is NO JOKE. Don't do it, people. Satan works in any way HE can to get you to GO TO HELL. (Does Discovery have Man Vs. Food? That's my guilty pleasure.)

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Too bad they're not doing the new Max Headroom show. He would have made a great mascot for the service.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

We all started as physical media collectors so I’m not sure the comparison is the same. I realize streaming is the future and I utilize it as well as realize it’s place, but at least with physical media, I don’t have to worry about it leaving a specific provider or anything.
The pricing model for max kinda sucks. Especially for people who don’t give a shit about discovery content or need four streams or 100 hours of downloads.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Interesting the email states getting all the new content at the same price we pay today. Yet reading the FAQ on max.com seems the plan that aligns with what we pay today is becoming the middle tier. Which actually drops in streaming quality. Right now many titles are UHD while the middle tier will become HD only. So more content lower quality.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

More content, but since it's content I don't want (reality, etc) content value dropped.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Couldn't agree more

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

The name change is literally the dumbest thing ever. HBO Max makes sense. It's maximum HBO. Max alone as a name is just some kid's name. Like is the WBD CEO's kid named Max or something. Max what? WBD Max? Fine. HBO Max? Perfect. Just Max? Stupid. It needs something else. It's also quite a bit of hubris. HBO is somehow the problem as a brand? Correct me if I'm mistaken but HBO Max subscriber base blows the Discovery Plus subscriber base out of the water, yes? But somehow HBO in the name is turning people off? Oh fuck off.

All that said, if it's just a rebrand I'm still fine with it over all. I just hope this isn't some semantics loophole to separate first run live HBO content down the line. I could conceivably see it being easier to down the line say whoa whoa whoa we never promised HBO content live. Just that this is where it will stream once it's done airing on linear HBO. I hope not.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I can only speak for myself, but I was a heavy media collector who now rarely buys anything.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I don't care what they call it, I just hope (as per the email) that the HBO Max app will become the Max app automatically. Smooth transition.

Once it looks like it's running smoothly I might opt for the $19 level.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I hope it is still free with a Directv HBO subscription

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I want to see the trademark paperwork submitted for “Max” haha

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

At least in the Apple ecosystem, the HBONow -> HBOMax was an automatic app upgrade.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I would expect it to go smoothly. The email they sent said there's a possibility I'll have to download the new app.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'll be honest, I've never watched anything on Max in 4k so I'm not even sure what's available (but I get why people who do watch in 4k hate the trend towards the Netflix "standard").

Most of the reaction to the pricing is fear that they will take away the bundled with HBO channel option (for most major providers, it seems not yet) and/or the freebies like the grandfathered AT&T subs (still up in the air).

My main concern is that they've showed with stuff like Westworld that HBO originals weren't safe from being purged from the service and monetized elsewhere, so moving away from the HBO brand entirely would seem to be like an easy way to hasten that to make a bit more extra. Every time I see a digital sale on WB titles I think "this is why they removed it from HBO Max" and resist.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Hulu just sent me an email that the price is going up on May 17th to $15.99. I subscribe to HBO Max via Hulu.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

The price of Hulu is increasing or the price of Max is?

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

The price of Max. I wrote it on my original post (I subscribed to HBO Max via Hulu).

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

:lol: It's natural for folks to be pissed about price hikes and changes to things they pay for. What's so hard to understand? Not everyone is sittin' on a ton of money and this pass time is getting expensive while seeming to not offer what is used too.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Especially when gas prices, eggs, and everything else is going up in price.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

i doubt it because one of reason that they came up with MAX was because everyone was getting it for free from directv

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

What makes you say that (or why directv specifically)? As far as I know you only got it free with DirecTV if you have HBO and as I posted before, that's going to continue, see here:
https://www.max.com/faq/ways-to-get/index.html

Now whether it remains free with legacy AT&T accounts is something else entirely.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Yeah, I hope they don't, but I absolutely expect them to remove it as a freebie from at least some AT&T customers. (I get it because I have AT&T Fiber internet).
If I no longer get it free, I will have to seriously think about cancelling. Not that it's oh so much necessarily (although "anything", from "nothing", is a big increase), but that paying for something that used to be 'free' AND feeling like I'm about capped out on streaming services means I will be wanting to do some serious churn. Plus I'm still ticked they cancelled so much of the animation. If so, maybe I'll resub when the next seasons of Ghosts and Righteous Gemstones come out.

The name "Max". Argh. On the one hand, it seems weird they're tossing a name that meant so much. But on the other hand, and as a devil's advocate to myself, "HBO" was huge in Cable Premium Channels. I'm betting most of us have had cable (or satellite) for a good chunk of our lives, maybe even still do, or have had it in the last 5 or so years.
There's a lot of people younger than us who have either never had cable/satellite, or it didn't play the role in their media consumption it did for us. "HBO" means much less to them. But "MAX" and "PLUS" and "i" and all those, those are modern e-speak buzzwords that "mean" something. I still hate "Max" and think it's bland and generic but I can see why they decided "HBO" isn't the marquee name it used to be, for a large portion of the streaming population. And it allows them to sell off that previous HBO content.

The last physical-only releases I purchased were Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare and Pink Floyd the Wall. Otherwise I buy digitally. I prefer to buy physical if it has digital included and doesn't cost much more than digital only. But i definitely buy random digital for five bucks, or 8 or so bucks for a tv season. (That said, my purchasing, physical or digital, has really decreased. Between my current library in both formats and streaming stuff, there aren't as many gotta-have titles for me.)

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I love all these premium streaming services that give you you the app for free if you pay for cable. I know that’ll change in time, but love it for now.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

With the name change it'll be easier flr more HBO shows to get dropped :(

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Which makes it easier not to subscribe.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

If you get HBO with your cable or satellite TV package, you may have access to Max at no extra cost.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

The hotel we are in has hbo and that notice popped up in between programs.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

What's the plan for Looney Tunes?

Would it be better just to subscribe to Boomerang streaming service?

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

same as it’s always been.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

https://deadline.com/2023/05/warner-...ll-1235357193/

Zaslav said that Max posted a $50M profit in Q1 of this year

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I think he and his accountants cooked the books for those numbers. We'll see what the next quarters look like. The company as a whole still lost over $1 billion.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I do wonder how that works. Does something like filming TLoU count in previous quarters when they were actually filming it? Does it count mainly on the HBO side of the ledger or is it shared? Certainly cutting a ton of content and thus not having to pay residuals helped as well, but I'm not sure how consistent that will be. I guess we'll see once the change to Max happens and they (effectively) raise the price.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Change to Max is this Tuesday (May 23)

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I noticed they have Bertolucci’s The Dreamers. I’ve occasionally looked for this for digital purchase but haven’t found it.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Do we have to re-download the app when Max launches?

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

No.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Doubtful.
it will either auto update or prompt you to update it.

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm pretty sure you do have to get a new app on ios/appletv.

I was wrong, android and almost everything else standalone too.

https://help.hbomax.com/US/Answer/Detail/000002200

Re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I wonder if Discovery Plus the channel and on demand will be free on Directv now if you subscribe to HBO?