Warner Bros. Discovery will keep Discovery+ as stand-alone service - WSJ
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Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) will keep Discovery+ as a stand-alone streaming service, the WSJ reports - a sudden reversal of a long-in-the-works strategy to combine Discovery+ with its HBO Max into a single offering for all.
That comes as company leaders have adjusted their view and come to the stance that a large chunk of the 20M subscribers to Discovery+ might not want to pay a higher price to access the content from a single bigger app.
The result, according to the report, will still be a bigger platform, with more of a tiered approach. It will feature HBO Max content and most content from Discovery+ (including Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" and Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network), with Discovery+ still available on a stand-alone (and cheaper) basis.
Discovery+ costs $4.99 per month on an ad-supported basis, and $6.99 per month without ads; HBO Max costs $9.99/month with ads and $15.99/month without.
The company's new supersized platform is sure to cost more than HBO Max, but Discovery+ is profitable at low operating costs, WSJ reported.
On WBD's third-quarter earnings call, CEO David Zaslav said the combined streaming platform would roll out in spring 2023.