HBO Max's cheaper, ad-supported tier will launch in June

From CNET: HBO Max will launch a cheaper, ad-supported tier of its US streaming service in June, adding commercials to its programming in exchange for a discount to its now $15-a-month subscription price. Parent company AT&T didn't specify the price for the new HBO Max membership level, but it may clarify how much it costs during an investor presentation later Friday.

The ad-supported version of HBO Max may give prospective subscribers a cheaper option for streaming Warner Bros. movies like The Suicide Squad, Dune and The Matrix 4 the same day those movies hit theaters. (But it won't arrive in time movies like Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, In the Heights or Space Jam: A New Legacy.) The new tier may also bring commercials to regular HBO programming that has never run with advertising on one of HBO's own platforms before.

AT&T also plans to expand HBO Max to 39 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in late June, followed by 21 countries in Europe in the second half of the year, the company said in a press release prior to the company's analyst day.

At $15 a month, HBO Max is the most expensive streaming service of its kind in the US. Disney Plus, for example, is $7 a month, rising to $8 a month later this month. NBCUniversal's Peacock has a limited ad-supported tier that is totally free and another that unlocks its entire library with ads for $5 a month. Netflix's most popular plan is closest to HBO Max in cost, after Netflix hiked the price to $14 a month last year in the US. Netflix's premium plan costs more than HBO Max but offers perks that HBO Max doesn't match, like a big catalog of programming in high-quality formats like 4K and HDR.

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