HBO Max and Discovery Plus will launch their merger in Spring next year.
The two entertainment giants will come together earlier than planned to debut their streaming service - which will host hit titles from across their libraries such as ‘Succession’, ‘Euphoria’, ‘90 Day Fiance’ and ‘Fixer Upper’ according to top executives, such as chief executive David Zaslav, who broke the news to his colleagues last week.
On a call about the platform - that was reported by PCmag.com - Jean-Briac Perrette, Warner Brothers Discovery’s President for global streaming and gaming said: “HBO Max has a competitive feature set, but has had performance and customer issues. Discovery Plus has best-in-class performance and consumer ratings, but more limited features. Our combined service will focus on delivering the best of both, market-leading features with world-class performance”.
The streaming service - which is yet to be named publicly - was due to arrive in the United States next summer but now will come earlier. Audiences in South America and Europe will have to wait until 2024.
Currently, both companies have their own platforms that require separate accounts - which cost $14.99 and $6.99 for ad-free viewing and $9.99 and $4.99 for ad-supported viewing - to access shows and movies.
Warner Brothers Discovery - the two brand’s parent company - have been seen their revenues suffer, seeing a $2.8 billion loss recently, prompting dramatic measures such as canning the Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-helmed movie, ‘Batgirl’ - which starred Leslie Grace, J.K Simmons, Jacob Scipio, Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton - despite it being deep in the post-production process.
