Max slammed for new price hike as subscribers rally support for boycott
MaxMax is getting slammed once more for hiking its prices amid an ongoing boycott under the ‘Don’t Stream On Max’ movement.
Effective from today (June 4), the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service’s monthly and yearly ad-free plans will go up for all subscribers.
So, while the ad-supported plan remains the same at $9.99 a month or $99.99 per year, the standard ad-free and ultimate ad-free plans will both be bumped up a dollar a month each.
This means instead they will jump from $15.99 to $16.99 monthly and $20.99 instead of $19.99 per month, respectively.
If you’re looking to pay for an annual subscription, the standard ad-free option is going up by $20, from $149.99 and $169.99. It’ll be an additional $10 for the ultimate ad-free plan with 4K streaming, jumping to $209.99 a year as opposed to $199.99.
Now, price hikes from streaming platforms never go down well, but the particular timing of Max’s announcement is curious, given the #DontStreamOnMax hashtag is trending on social media.
Although the movement originally kicked off last month, TV lovers are once again calling for a boycott of the service after it canceled the beloved LGBTQ+ series Our Flag Means Death.
But this is far from the only gripe former subscribers have with Max. Last year, it became embroiled in the backlash to the streaming purge, whereby platforms were removing or axing quality content in the name of cutting costs.
Warner Bros. Discovery was also criticized for shelving titles such as Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme in an effort to reduce earnings in favor of tax write-offs.
As users continue to express their personal reasons for boycotting Max, the company has come under fire for deciding to hike its prices a day after the movement took off again.
Taking to X/Twitter, one wrote, “With #DontStreamOnMax trending on Twitter for the past couple of days, I guess the powers that be at @StreamOnMax decided now would be a good time to let everyone know they’re jacking up the pricing. Good luck with that.”
“Max doesn’t have the content to warrant the price anymore,” said another, while a third added, “Already canceled it. Way too much money for virtually zero new content.”
Another, who shared the news of the price increases, commented, “#DontStreamOnMax because they cancel, shorten and shelve content, overpay their CEO, and increase prices in time for summer when a popular series returns to air, taking advantage of their viewership.”
Drama aside, if you’re looking for fresh content to watch, check out all of the best new TV shows out this month, as well as the movies you can see in the cinema.