HBO Challenges Subscribers with Annual Price Increase
HBO Max is upping their prices again, just when we thought we’d caught a break. Hot on the heels of Peacemaker season 2 ending, HBO announced some sneaky price hikes. It looks like CEO David Zaslav hinted at this move a little while back, and now it’s official. The prices are going up by $1 to $2 a month, or $10 to $20 annually. Here’s the breakdown, effective October 21:
– HBO Max Basic with ads: $11 monthly ($1 increase) / $110 yearly ($10 increase)
– HBO Max Standard: $18.50 monthly ($1.50 increase) / $185 yearly ($15 increase)
– HBO Max Premium: $23 monthly ($2 increase) / $230 yearly ($20 increase)
If you’re not willing to dish out more cash, remember you have 30 days to opt-out before you’re automatically renewed at the higher rate. This latest round of price jumps comes just a year after the last hike, which saw the standard ad-free plan and 4K ad-free plans each go up by $1 a month. Pretty soon, subscribing to HBO with ads might actually end up costing more than traditional cable used to! Zaslav told Wall Street last month that the price increases are necessary due to the all-around competition and aggressive price-dropping by other streaming platforms. Oh, and don’t forget about the crackdown on password sharing—better make sure all your friends are paying their own way!
And get ready for some epic new shows and movies dropping soon, including the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in January 2026. It seems like Warner Bros. isn’t stopping anytime soon with all these shall we say, unexpected announcements. Who knows what else they have up their sleeves next?
