Max Planning to Crack Down on Password Sharing

Max, the streaming service previously known as HBO Max, is cracking down on password sharing in the coming months, reports The Verge. During an earnings call today, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery said that customers will start seeing "very soft messaging" about the upcoming change.

Max Formerly HBO Max
After that initial message about password sharing, more strict rules will be put into place in 2025 and 2026. Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Widenfels said that Max would be asking viewers who have "not signed up, or multi-household members to pay a little bit more."

Max could also get a price increase in the future, and the company has not ruled out raising the cost of a subscription. Widenfels said that there is a "fair amount of room to continue to push a price" that Max has been "judicious about."

Max has a total of 110.5 million subscribers globally, and the service is priced starting at $9.99 per month for an ad-supported version ($99.99 per year), or $16.99 per month for an ad-free version ($169.99 per year). There's also a more expensive "Ultimate" $20.99/month plan that provides 4K streaming.

Streaming services are putting an end to password sharing after Netflix successfully cracked down on the practice last year. Netflix saw its subscription numbers increase after preventing customers from sharing accounts across multiple households.

Tag: HBO Max

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Top Rated Comments

GoosePoops Avatar
3 hours ago at 04:20 pm
I cancelled last year when they did the major price hike and then required an "Ultimate" plan to view 4K content. Signed up again this year when I got a promotion for 60% off a year, and then discovered the app is now filled to the brim with awful B-tier reality TV type content. Sad to see HBO have such a fall from grace in the last few years. Won't be resubscribing.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Trusteft Avatar
3 hours ago at 04:09 pm
Wait, subscribers have to watch ads too? lol
I am glad I don't have any of these.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
2 hours ago at 04:49 pm

$20.99 to watch Godzilla vs Megalon.

Half a dozen major streaming services costing more than a coffee a day with none of them providing any real value.

Piracy ftw!
We're back at cable. Subscriptions to lots of different channels, with ads. The only difference is that it's on-demand and not linear. Turns out the streaming model that everyone rushed into is expensive to operate and doesn't produce the rivers of gold investors were promised.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
techfreak23 Avatar
2 hours ago at 05:09 pm
We knew this was coming after Netflix got away with it and more recently with Disney. These password sharing "crackdowns" are absolutely ridiculous and everyone should cancel any service that does it. It would be like your cell phone provider charging you extra on a family plan line just because that family member doesn't live with you. They actually have more of a justification for doing that than the greedy streaming services, but they don't do it. Anyone trying to defend them and compare to the days of cable/satellite are insane. We pay for a number of simultaneous streams, not number of rooms in a household. There's absolutely no justification, especially with the frequent price increases. They don't incur infrastructure costs because they don't control your internet. Cable companies had to actually do home setups and maintenance.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
2 hours ago at 05:17 pm

$20.99 to watch Godzilla vs Megalon.

Half a dozen major streaming services costing more than a coffee a day with none of them providing any real value.

Piracy ftw!
$20.99 a month or $0.70 a day (30 days). Unless you're making coffe at home or something, you're paying more than $0.70 per cup of coffee.

A small cup of coffee is $1.39 at McDonald's, $2.19 at Burger King, $1.99 at Dunkin, $2.85 (short) at Starbucks...


We're back at cable. Subscriptions to lots of different channels, with ads. The only difference is that it's on-demand and not linear.
Another difference is you can pause/cancel and resume at any time unlike cable tv.

And streaming is still less expensive than cable tv even if you were to subscribe to 5 different ad-support services to make it comparable to the ads you get on cable tv.

Max (with ads) = $9.99/mo
Netflix (with ads) = $6.99/mo
Disney+ and Hulu (both with ads) = $10.99/mo
Paramount + (with ads) = $7.99/mo

$35.96/mo for 5 streaming services. Those same 5 streaming services but without ads are $65.46/mo (actually since Paramount+ includes Showtime with their ad-free $12.99/mo plan, you're getting 6 streaming services for $65.46/mo)

Cable tv is way more than that. Spectrum is $95/mo though I do get Disney+ (with ads) and Paramount+ (with ads). I should also note that's an introductory 1 year price. Who knows what the price is after the 1 year term is up.



Attachment Image
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rizzo41999 Avatar
2 hours ago at 05:29 pm
Plex + home server or NAS
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)