A few days ago the new prices that HBO Max will have when it becomes Max in Spain were confirmed. But there was still the question of officially knowing how much you would have to pay for the service if you are enjoying the 50% discount offer that the platform’s first subscribers had at the time. Now we confirm what is going to happen.
All streaming services are incorporating changes in their rates or even in the way they offer their content to users. In the case of HBO Max, Warner has chosen to take advantage of the transformation in Max to implement these changes in rates. It will be from May 21, at which time there will be a general change.
How much will you pay if you have a 50% discount?
On paper, it is true that you will continue to pay 50% of the fee. In that sense, Max has protected itself so that no one can complain about what is stipulated in the contract. The problem is that that 50% discount that you are going to pay will only be for the Standard plan. And that is a major drawback, given that, if you were paying 50%, what will happen is that you will continue paying the same as you paid before, but with a reduction in the quality of the service.
That’s because the Standard plan has a price of 9.99 euros, so you will end up with exactly the amount you already paid: 4.99 euros. However, the service you were receiving before is equivalent to the Premium plan, which has a monthly cost of 13.99 euros. Therefore, you stay with the price you had, but you lose several important features, since you will only have Full HD resolution and playback on two devices.
And this is where we come to the bad decision that Max has made: not allowing these users with the discounted rate to decide if they prefer to jump to the Premium plan. In that case they would pay, with their offer, a price of 6.99 euros. That would mean they would be paying more money than before, but maintaining the features they had access to.
A controversial situation
That Max was going to be scalded by the rate change was obvious. There would be complaints whatever the decision. Surely, if the service allowed users of the 50% lifetime discount to opt for the Premium plan also with 50%, they would complain because now they would have to pay more. It is obvious that it never rains to everyone’s liking, but it is also logical that not giving all options to users is not convenient. It should be possible to decide whether or not to upgrade to the Premium account so that each subscriber could make the decision that they see as most appropriate.
However, this move could also be a maneuver by Max to reduce the number of people who still have the 50% offer. Because as they have published in X when a user has asked them about it, anyone who decides to change their rate from Standard to Premium will lose the promotion they enjoyed.
HBO Max Spain
@HBOMaxES
@NachoNoir Hello Nacho, Thank you for contacting us.🙂
If you currently have the 50% price plan, your subscription will be converted to the standard plan.
If you want to change your plan you will lose the 50% discount on the rate.April 21, 2024 • 22:32
3
5
In other words, if you’re paying the lifetime discount, you’re stuck on the Standard plan forever. And if some other type of plan is introduced to replace this one in the future, such as one where ads are the norm, users will likely be moved from the offer to this one as well. The point is that it is a complex situation for Max given that, at the time, although they needed to make themselves known, offering that 50% for life may not have been the best long-term strategy.
Now it remains to be seen what the reaction of users is and if, in the end, the number of people who continue to subscribe with the 50% discount is reduced. Of course, the 50% discount also does not apply to any extras, such as the sports package for 5 euros per month.
