It’s been rumored, and now it’s confirmed: once the HBO Max and Discovery + merger is complete, the resulting service will increase its price. How much it will make was not expected, but the CFO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Gunnar Wiedenfels believes that it costs less than it should and that there is room for growth.

In this regard, it should be noted that, in relation to the price increase, neither HBO Max nor Discovery + subscriptions cost the same here in Spain as in the United States, although the catalog is also not equivalent. So the standard HBO Max plan in the United States costs $14.99 per month, while Discovery+ is reduced to $6.99 per month.

In Spain HBO Max subscription price is 8.99 euros per month and Discovery + price is 3.99 euros per month, although in both cases it is possible to choose an annual tariff with a more or less attractive discount: HBO Max would remain at 69.99 euros per year and Discovery + at 35.99 euros per year. What happens next is the question.

Will it be a gross amount? The cost of a subscription here in Spain would practically remain at 13 euros per month, which would rise to almost $22 per month in the United States. This is the testimony of an old woman whose resemblance to reality will be a mere coincidence, but if Wiedenfels is clear on one thing, it’s that “they have room to raise prices, given the power of content in services.”

Both HBO Max and Discovery+ offer cheaper plans in the United States that include advertising, and all indications are that they will be exported to the single service resulting from the merger, there and in the rest of the world. Be that as it may, it has yet to happen and he will do it across the pond first. So we will be warned what happens.

The merger will take place in the middle of next year in the United States, and the following will be expanded to the rest of the territories where the service operates, including Spain. Which raises another question: will it all be done under the HBO Max roof or under the new roof? And if the latter happens, will HBO Max’s introductory offer be honored?

Regardless of how the story turns out, the truth is that even if the growth of the video-on-demand sector is slowing down, the prices of the various platforms are increasing: from the growth and reduction of Netflix to the prices of Disney + or Amazon Prime Video. , bubble streaming is about to explode.