What the HBO Max and Discovery+ merger means for your favorite streaming service

Since its launch last year, HBO Max has been arguably the very best streaming service you could throw your money towards. That may not last forever.

That’s because HBO Max, as we know it, probably won’t exist by this time next year. In an earnings call last week, HBO Max’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the streaming service known for its high-quality selection of great content would merge with Discovery+, a reality TV-focused streaming service. 

This is all sudden and difficult to grasp, so let’s take some time to break down what this means for you and why this is happening in the first place.

Wait, is HBO Max going away?

The answer to that question is sort of, but not really. To put it simply, by summer 2023, HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge into a new streaming service that doesn’t yet have a name or (rather importantly) a subscription price.

For reference, HBO Max costs $10/mo with ads and $15/mo without them, while Discovery+ is $5/mo with ads or $7/mo without them. Launching a new combined streaming service at around $20/mo would be a risky play for Warner Bros. Discovery, but we can’t discount the possibility right now. It's also possible that existing subscribers will get grandfathered in with their current subscriptions, but again, it's too early to say that for sure.

As for what content will be available on this new app, expect a combination of what’s already on the two existing apps, with some things perhaps being removed between now and summer 2023. Heavy hitters like HBO Max’s Harry Potter and DC Comics franchises will surely join Discovery’s popular shows like Deadliest Catch and Property Brothers, but we’ll find out more about the catalog over the next year.

As for that remark about content being removed, that’s not idle speculation — it’s already happening. Warner removed six streaming-only movies from HBO Max recently, including Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle and Melissa McCarthy’s Superintelligence. Stunningly, Warner also canceled the release of Batgirl last week. That movie had been shot and was in post-production with a budget of $90 million before Warner decided it wouldn’t be seen by anyone. 

The one constant connecting all of those titles is that they were HBO Max originals, so perhaps the strategy going forward will focus more on movies and shows that were released theatrically or aired on actual cable television. If the upcoming third season of Warrior is shelved because of this, I might just move to the woods and give up on the streaming future.

Why are HBO Max and Discovery+ merging?

That’s the million-dollar question, and it mostly boils down to cold, hard business.

Warner Bros. and Discovery merged back in April to form the corporate entity behind all these moves. Since then, the company has cut back on $825 million worth of content, per SlashFilm. The idea, as explained by IndieWire, is most likely to use removed or canceled content as tax write-offs and recoup some of those investments during hard economic times. Maintaining one streaming app instead of two could be seen as another cost-cutting measure.

It’s ruthless and doesn’t seem like something you’d do if you cared about art, but it’s right in line with what you’d expect after seeing this…questionable slide from Warner’s earnings call last week:

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Come for the word "genredom," stay for the, uh, interesting notion that women broadly prefer less thematically substantial or "prestigious" content.

Again, to the C-suite people at companies like Warner Bros. Discovery, this is all about business. And sometimes business means intentionally slashing your own tire when you’re seemingly leading the race.