After initially saying that HBO Max and Discovery+ would merge in the summer of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery now says it’ll happen in spring instead.
The move will see Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) HBO Max and Discovery+ merge its two streaming services ahead of schedule, although the exact window hasn’t yet been shared beyond that vague spring timeframe. The confirmation came during the company’s latest earnings call though, so it’s definitely official.
There are still plenty of questions to be asked about the merger, though. For starters, nobody yet seems to know what the combined streaming service will actually be called. However, some Discovery+ content has already begun to move over to HBO Max, perhaps suggesting that the latter will be used for the combined service.
WBD isn’t done with its streaming plans, though. The company is also working on a free ad-supported streaming service that will launch in 2023 as well. WBD President and CEO David Zaslav believes that “as the company with the largest TV and film library in the industry”, it can choose new ways to make that content available to its customers. One of those ways looks set to be by selling ads against it.
Putting ads with streaming content is all the rage right now, although most companies also sell a subscription as well. Both Netflix and Disney+ have ad-supported tiers either launched or launching soon, for example.