It was sung and even announced, but it arrived sooner than expected… And here the couplet ends. We are talking about HBO Max price increasethe first platform on the market to take this unpopular step in the year we’ve just begun, though it certainly won’t be the only one.

In fact, it was already known that HBO Max would increase its prices, not because all VOD services are doing it, but because the company itself announced it. However, the rise was not expected so soon, nor was it expected to happen before the completion of the merger of HBO Max and Discover +, planned for the first quarter of the year in the United States.

The aforementioned upswing is actually only for the United States so far, but it is already known that what happens in Las Vegas, when it comes to collecting more, does not stay in Las Vegas. Not only that: the subscription increase that was just granted is small and does not seem to be definitive, but only a preview of what will happen when HBO Max and Discovery + become one.

Specifically, the price of HBO Max get a dollar and go from the $14.99 they cost until now to $15.99 a month. The ad-supported subscription, currently exclusive to the US market, remains unchanged at $9.99 per month. Yes, there are those who pay $10 for ad content…

… And the same is very likely to happen here, because if the content sector is anything to go by streaming It is for creating uncontrolled waters. Today, there is no number of subscribers that guarantees profit. Not to mention that the restructuring of Warner Bros. Discovery is deep and not over yet.

So we just have to wait for HBO Max to pass on the price hike to the rest of the markets where the service operates, including Spain, where it now stands 8.99 euros per month or 69.99 euros per year. Except for those who took advantage of the starter offer and pay half forever… Or until the platform becomes different, when it adds the Discovery+ catalog and, from all indications, changes its name.

In any case, the date of the mentioned small increase is not chosen by chance, and it happens right before the premiere of one of the most anticipated releases of the platform for 2023: adaptation The last of usthe first chapter of which will be broadcast tomorrow Sunday on the cable channel HBO and on HBO Max.