Warner Bros Discovery will merge HBO Max with Discovery Plus into a new streaming platform by 2023, its CEO David Zaslav said in an earnings call. According to a Reuters report, Warners Bros Discovery is exploring a free ad-supported offering.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which reported combined results for the first time, also disclosed 92.1 million streaming subscribers at the end of the second quarter. The Verge reported Zaslav saying, “HBO Max has a competitive feature set, but it has had performance and customer issues.”
According to the report, Zaslav claimed Discovery Plus would become the core of the new service, combining the content of HBO Max. In addition, Zaslav said that the company would not move on an HBO Max-focused cancellation spree and stated that the programming overall was good and supported by the company at large. Reportedly, HBO and HBO Max bragged a combined 76.8 million subscribers before the merger, while Discovery Plus ended the first quarter with 24 million subscribers.