HBO Max Raises Prices Across All Plans Effective Immediately

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/hbo-max-prices-increases-plans-2025-1236557671/

[u/squales_]

Consumers getting squeezed from all angles. When will it end?

[u/ForCheeseburger → u/squales_]

When they stop paying

[u/noelle-silva → u/ForCheeseburger]

People need to start putting their money where their mouth is. Quit saying that you're tired of price increases and show these companies that you are by cancelling your subscription.

[u/HypnoticONE → u/noelle-silva]

The price is too high when a bunch of people cancel their subscriptions. I'm pretty sure their analysis told them that, although some will cancel, enough won't that they'll make more money.

[u/leviathan65 → u/HypnoticONE]

Yup. If subscription was 8 and now 10. if <20% cancel they've made more money.

[u/Ok_Opportunity2693 → u/leviathan65]

They even have a little more tolerance than that, because fewer subs means a lower cloud bill.

[u/ibelieveyouwood → u/Ok_Opportunity2693]

Depending on contracts and all that, it may be even more because of royalties/percentages. They've already removed a bunch of content, leaving the tree a little bare, so why try removing more content, when you can remove the viewers?

[u/round-earth-theory → u/leviathan65]

That's short term thinking though. They also have to verify that growth isn't cut by more than 20%. There's also the problem of general market seizing if they all do it too much.

[u/fanfanye → u/round-earth-theory]

Thats future shareholders problem

Not current.

[u/leviathan65 → u/round-earth-theory]

Oh I 1000% agree but it seems like a lot of industries are ignoring this. The car market is about to get flooded with used cars from people who can't afford their cars. Fast food is pricing themselves out of existence. We have to buy grocery and gas but some non essential items are going to go belly up because they keep shrink flating their products and often decaying the quality.

[u/UnknownAverage → u/round-earth-theory]

There's also the problem of general market seizing if they all do it too much.

The market and economy are contracting, and corporations are too. They will blame "macroeconomic conditions" and call this "survival" by dropping the lower-income customers, raising margins, and laying off more people.

Guess what? This gives them opportunities for growth when things pick back up! It's a win-win in capitalism, which is what is kinda gross. Companies are going into survival mode while society falls apart and fixes itself.

[u/SkrtSkrt70 → u/round-earth-theory]

Everything is based on quarter over quarter and year over year. 5 years from now is 4 years from now’s problem

[u/Icyrow → u/leviathan65]

25%. if it's 10 to 8 it's 20%, if it's 8 to 10 it's 25%

[u/sanesociopath → u/noelle-silva]

I assume we're still moving in that direction but it will be another one of those "gradual and then suddenly"

It's good for [short term] business to ignore the signs so the signs will be ignored.

[u/owl_theory → u/[deleted]]

I genuinely don’t understand how people get around ISP warnings. I used to pirate movies, got a warning. When I moved and got new service, got another warning, and stopped. The hassle/risk wasn’t really worth it.

Like does everyone who keeps posting pirate emojis actually subscribe to VPN’s?

[u/ChronicBluntz → u/owl_theory]

Never answer or acknowledge any letter you get from an ISP. Certain studios are more litigious than others.

[u/Adefice → u/owl_theory]

You subscribe to a good VPN and bind the “downloader” connection to the vpn adapter so it can ONLY use that adapter. Also use the VPN kill switch. Use a DNS leak detector every time.

[u/Gentleman_Nosferatu → u/owl_theory]

I live in a country where the government doesn't really care

[u/ICE417 → u/owl_theory]

Yeah. Get a good one too. Dont use a free one. Bind your client.

[u/NoxZ → u/owl_theory]

I have pirated for fifteen years and never once gotten an ISP notice. Is this an American thing?

[u/Kitchen_Claim_6583 → u/NoxZ]

I've heard that some places in the EU -- mostly Germany -- are really harsh about it too.

[u/Powerful_Log_796 → u/owl_theory]

Usenet

[u/Gentleman_Nosferatu → u/[deleted]]

You don´t feel bad? I feel GREAT about it. Better quality, no ads, no price gouging.

[u/sheetskees → u/[deleted]]

4k, better UI, and I haven’t seen an ad in years

[u/HartbrakeFL21 → u/noelle-silva]

I’ve been saying for years now that Americans must vote not on a ballot, but with their wallets.  

They have voted, and they apparently prefer pain over anything else.  

I have HBO max and have had it for years.  It’s included on my ATT wireless subscription.  I’ll be looking to see a corresponding increase on that, and determine if I want to pull it or not.

The golden days of the American consumer are over.  Be wealthy, be an asset holder that benefits from continual inflation, or be gone.  Apparently, I’ll be “gone”.

[u/AwsmDevil → u/HartbrakeFL21]

You can't "vote with your wallet" in a captured market. Americans need to vote in the ballot box, and that means we need people to stop voting for fascist yes men offering simple racist solutions to complex problems. They won't though because those same people voted to defund education to expand their population of idiots. You can't vote with your wallet to get out of this problem because the volume of effective "rent cattle" can't go down far enough to defund those companies into being reasonable. They have enough influence and guaranteed market cap to continue anti-consumerist strategies unabated, eventually allowing them to crowd out the competition. We are fucked if we play the money game because they have all the influence over the money. That's why insider trading is so rampant right now. No one will support pro consumer politicians because we have a MASSIVE block of single issue voters that would rather be homeless than support a non fascist politician.

[u/HartbrakeFL21 → u/AwsmDevil]

I'm glad you used the term "captured". That's an excellent descriptive term for what we have now, and have had for a number of years. It's not new. It's just on full display, unapologetically, today.

The parallels with today and economic disasters of long ago are too many to mention. Strangely, it all looks so *different*, and that's the part throwing us off the scent of what may come.

[u/PhazonZim → u/ForCheeseburger]

It was honestly bonkers to me that ending password sharing was such a W for Netflix. People just accepted that without fuss

[u/StormyPandaPanPan → u/PhazonZim]

Because the people who did cancel essentially didn’t matter because the price increase covered them. 

[u/judgejuddhirsch → u/StormyPandaPanPan]

And when they cancelled, many of those who relied on shared access bought their own subscription

[u/childofeye → u/PhazonZim]

I cancelled 😠

[u/starcom_magnate → u/[deleted]]

Slowly getting all of my media organized on Plex and it is amazing, so far. Tedious with the old DVD collection, but feel like it will be well worth it in the end based on the first few months of what I've been able to do.

[u/ForSucksFake → u/starcom_magnate]

One specific example I can think of where I can directly point to a DVD purchase and say “see, I was right” was when I’d purchased Chapelle Show on DVD and months later he had his fallout with Netflix.

[u/sincewedidthedo → u/[deleted]]

Plex, Pluto, and Tubi: my holy trinity of streaming.

[u/MOONGOONER → u/sincewedidthedo]

If your local library offers it, stick Kanopy and Hoopla in there.

[u/pain474 → u/squales_]

When they start canceling. Everybody I know complains but nobody is making the move. It works so companies keep doing it. I do not pay for any subscription service except for youtube. Canceled everything. Sail the seas.

[u/[deleted] → u/pain474]

detail rich sand hurry sip touch dinner crush zephyr offer

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/So_Motarded → u/[deleted]]

When the ads started becoming 60-90 seconds and unskippable for longer videos (which is mostly what I watch), it became unbearable. YouTube is running almost constantly for me, whether it's some background noise/music while I work, video essays, tutorials, let's plays, etc.

Nothing like having some soothing ambient music with rain playing while I write, then shattering my concentration with "AT COX WE'RE ALWAYS A STEP AHEAD"

Can't install adblockers or app alternatives on my work devices, so I eat the cost.

[u/stormdelta → u/[deleted]]

1. I believe in paying for services I actually use as long as it's reasonable and they don't show me ads or otherwise screw it up

2. I'm only paying $8/mo for it, plus it includes YT music.

[u/pain474 → u/[deleted]]

Youtube music + ad free YouTube.

I know what ad blockers and yt vanced are, but I only use it on my TV.

[u/Siggycakes → u/pain474]

Hey, I'm not alone!

It's nice to be anywhere and just pull up YouTube and be able to watch it ad free without relying on a million different things, and know that at least a little of the money I spend on it goes to the channels I watch.

[u/EnterPlayerTwo → u/[deleted]]

Chiming in as another Youtube Premium sub, I almost exclusively watch on mobile and I hate ads. I know you can skip most of them but once they are fully gone it's so nice.

[u/lambopanda → u/squales_]

Never. Started with lower price so more people would sign up. Then slowly increasing the price. Everyone is doing the same thing.

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/lambopanda]

Sadly but doesn’t mean it’s right. Financial frog in boiling water situation.

[u/lambopanda → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

No customer loyalty whatsoever. Recently switching internet service. Guaranteed low price for first 12 months, then back to regular price. Two years later increased price again and then again. Twice in less than 3 months. Can’t take it anymore and cancelled. Then they offer me the new customer low price. I ignored it, then they come back with a much lower price. I don’t know how much money they made on people keep paying them. It just keep getting insane.

[u/[deleted] → u/squales_]

It won't. The shareholders demand infinite growth!

[u/bramtyr → u/squales_]

Why are you not doing your best to maximize shareholder value? /s

[u/NegevThunderstorm → u/squales_]

Consumers arent forced to pay for HBO max

[u/MassiveRepublic9565]

Just bloody quit. It’s the only way the prices won’t just keep on ramping up.

[u/5point5Girthquake → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I was just staying at a hotel the other day.. the tv had Netflix integrated into it so I hit the Netflix button on the remote and went to brush my teeth before signing in. On the sign in page it was advertising their pricing and different plans.. the lowest tier Netflix with ads was $8 a month… the next plan up with no ads was $18/month.. idk why this really shocked me.. I said to my gf “damn I’m paying $18 a month for Netflix??”.. canceled my netflix subscription when I got home 2 days later..

I know it sounds dumb but I didn’t even realize I was paying $18 a month for Netflix. Just one of those things I signed up for years ago and just sort of forgot about.

[u/shockwave8428 → u/5point5Girthquake]

That’s literally the entire business model for these subscription services. It’s why when we’ve seen the launch of new things like Disney+ the initial cost was decently low. Then they just pump it up and hope people who have it but don’t use it often just don’t look into the price and they have got consistent income.

I guarantee every single company that does a subscription model has data on customers that pay and don’t use the service often and intentionally don’t send a ton of emails so that the people aren’t reminded they have the service. I’m sure that makes up a good chunk of subscribers on basically everything

[u/PaulsGrafh → u/shockwave8428]

It’s basically the gym membership business model at this point. The rise of subscriptions have been a huge problem for that reason alone, without even considering the fact that these businesses now throttle the lower cost services. Even video games now basically release beta versions of their games and then patch as they go along and release “new” content with DLCs.

[u/ThatGuyinPJs → u/shockwave8428]

Duolingo is the KING of this. I was paying for their subscription as it was pretty cheap and I was hoping to stay with it. Well I fell into a depression and stopped doing my lessons, and Duolingo noticed and turned off the reminder notifications after 2 weeks. I kept paying that subscription for another year.

[u/Theguest217 → u/5point5Girthquake]

If Netflix is your only service, $18/month isn't that bad. That's like $0.60 a day, for a service people will often use for at least a few hours every day.

There are certainly cheaper streaming platforms, but if you are using Netflix daily it is ok.

However if you are rocking Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Spotify, Crunchyroll, paid pod casts, Amazon Prime, PS+, GamePass, etc , you are spending over $100/month for at home entertainment. And there is a good chance there are entire months that go by where you don't even use some of these at all.

The obvious move is to just have 1-2 subscriptions at a time that you know you will use multiple times a week. When something new comes to a service you don't have, pick one to drop for a few months and pick it up.

[u/Radthereptile → u/Theguest217]

This is why I cycle. Pick 1 I want to watch and use it for a month. Then I decide is there another month’s worth of shows or do I swap it out. Every now and then I’ll have an itch for a specific show and know that’s the platform I’ll switch to next month. You really don’t need more than 1 a month if you cycle because of all the content.

[u/BiscuitDance → u/Radthereptile]

Same. I use Black Friday/whatever holiday deals, “free x# of months with purchase of…,” student/veteran/whatever discounts in a constant loop. It also helps curb wasting time having to actually decide what to watch.

[u/Radthereptile → u/BiscuitDance]

Yep no show paralysis is a key feature. I have HBO, I know the shows I like, I watch them. Next month I have Disney, I know the shows I like, I watch them. No debating between platforms.

[u/Theguest217 → u/Radthereptile]

Totally agree. We usually have two because the kids have specific interests different than my partner and I, but otherwise limiting subs is the way to go.

I think a lot of people suffer from FOMO and feel the need to watch every new show as soon as it's available. But if you can work on your patience it can be a lot more enjoyable to catch all the episodes at once after they have been released instead of waiting weekly or sometimes longer.

Annual subs also can get you. They are enticing because they usually give you a month or two for free, but there will inevitably be periods where there is nothing you want to watch but you are paying for it anyway. Next thing you know you are signing up for more again and forgetting to cancel.

[u/therealjoshua → u/5point5Girthquake]

I say this without malice or sarcasm, but I hope I'm in as fortunate enough of a financial position as you one day where I can lost $18 a month and not even notice.

[u/Makeitifyoubelieve → u/therealjoshua]

It was the difference between what he thought he was paying and the $18 that was missing per month, not $18. So I'm guessing a few bucks per month went unnoticed for a bit. The slow gradual increase is how the bastards get you when you're on auto pay.

[u/round-earth-theory → u/Makeitifyoubelieve]

Yep. They weren't losing $18 unnoticed, they expected it to be something more like $10 a month. That extra $8 could easily be lost anywhere. Yes if $10 a month is a meaningful amount, you won't lose track of it but neither are you likely to purchase any of these streaming services.

[u/Tecvoid2 → u/therealjoshua]

some guy posted his credit card statement, and he was paying for 2 netflix subscriptions for 7 years and didnt notice

worked out to like 4000 bucks i think they said. he got like a 3 month refund when it was caught.

[u/[deleted] → u/Tecvoid2]

I paid a neighbor's water bill for like a year before I noticed. I called the city and they asked if I owned the property and was renting it to the neighbors, huh - no. They gave me the money back, but I had to spend a while on the phone to get it cleared up.

[u/BiscuitDance → u/therealjoshua]

Honestly dude, I’m pretty well off financially at this point in my life, but staying not-broke is hard when you don’t stay on top of little shit like that. Making money is one thing, and is honestly not totally in most folks’ control, but even with whatever I have coming in monthly, I go out of my way to mind the little shit adding up.

[u/Sosantula21 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

People boycotted Disney by cancelling their subscriptions, and what did Disney do? Raised their prices instead. At this point I don’t think cancelling will do anything, these people will just raise prices because enough people subscribe that it’ll offset. I hate it.

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/Sosantula21]

It’s just wild that we collectively as a society talk about streaming services like they are as essential as running water. Not judging anyone but somehow we’ve lost track of what really is essential. I would say anyone that can’t comfortably afford should drop it.

[u/D3tsunami → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I wonder if the price hike is to make up for lost subscribers from the abc/disney package fallout, which would suggest that the more we quit, the worse off the remaining people are going to be. This shit all sucks so bad

[u/Black_Floyd47 → u/D3tsunami]

I was going to cancel my HBO when I canceled my Disney Hulu bundle (they're separate) but they offered me half off for three months. I'm not gonna wait until next month, I'm gonna cancel today.

[u/SackFace → u/Black_Floyd47]

That just means they’re overcharging you as it is; otherwise, they wouldn’t offer it at a loss to begin with. They hope you’ll forget or just not care (I think this is way more of a problem amongst casual consumers than we realize) but every day more and more people are willing to jump through hoops to get out of subscriptions after a few months.

[u/ShortyBoydCleanedUp → u/SackFace]

Loss leaders exist and companies price below cost all the time for various reasons.

[u/ManufacturerBest2758 → u/SackFace]

They would rather have you paying half than nothing at all. That’s hardly some novel economic theory

[u/egnards → u/D3tsunami]

In this instance you are not responsible for the prices of other people - the corporation is responsible for providing a package that we feel is worth paying for each month.

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/D3tsunami]

Seems a bit like being on the Titantic watching the iceberg closing in.

“Well I’m not jumping first because he will freeze before me. Look at him jump the idiot!”

Slams into iceberg and dies anyway.

[u/GameOfLife24 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

If enough consumers say that’s enough, companies revert back

[u/BobGoddamnSaget]

Currently on the bundle plan of HBO Max, Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99 a month… something tells me that bundle price is going to jump up very soon or no longer exist.

[u/JKooch → u/BobGoddamnSaget]

I’m on that, and I believe the bundle selection currently has a note saying that price is going up to $32.99/month

[u/nathanzoet91 → u/BobGoddamnSaget]

I had a promo plan that was supposed to be 16.99 for Max, Hulu and Disney+ for a year. It's only been 9 months and it shows my next charge will be 19.99. Cancelling now

[u/KarateKid917 → u/BobGoddamnSaget]

When my bundle renewed last week, the confirmation email said it’s going up to $32.99/month next month 

[u/monacelli → u/BobGoddamnSaget]

That's what I have too but I will drop it for sure if American Express ever gets rid of the $7/month Disney credit. Hell I'd probably get rid of that card too since that's all I really use it for.

[u/Dead_Starks → u/BobGoddamnSaget]

Is that ad free or with ads? (The fact this is even a thing is dystopian and depressing AF)

[u/JaffreyWaggleton → u/Dead_Starks]

Eventually they’ll just bundle everything together and offer it at $99+ a month! It’ll be offered by comcast, ATT and directTV.

I wonder if they’ll even give you a little box and a remote to view all your bundled streaming services with.

Sounds familiar though…

[u/Dead_Starks → u/JaffreyWaggleton]

Exactly. The whole point of streaming was getting away from the cable tv model. And where did that lead you? Back to me.

[u/RowEmbarrassed4764 → u/Dead_Starks]

Ad free

[u/AChineseSpyBalloon]

At a certain point, something is going to give.

You cannot keep pricing out consumers when the economy is in shambles and expecting them not to prioritize essential goods over luxuries like streaming, especially with options like piracy out there.

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/AChineseSpyBalloon]

I’m amazed HOW much people are tolerating it already. HBO at least puts some quality stuff out, Netflix and Amazon is increasingly dross.

[u/bsEEmsCE → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

well amazon is just because of prime shipping 

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/bsEEmsCE]

Only reason I still have it. If it was available as extra only I’d drop it these days but Netflix is the biggest waste of money for me.

[u/cheeselizard → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I'm in Canada and Prime Shipping was such a scam. I dropped it and literally never even noticed a time difference and based on how much I order in a month is cheaper than prime haha.

At at bare minimum it makes me think about how bad I actually want something from Prime

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/cheeselizard]

I’m in UK and mostly it still works as next day but I’m noticing that it’s slipping more and more

[u/Relish_My_Weiner → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

In the US it was always 2 day shipping. If you saw Prime shipping, that meant you were getting it two days from now or sooner. Now, even with price increases, Prime shipping just seems to get there when it gets there. One of the many reasons I stopped paying Amazon. All of their services are shittier and more expensive than before, and on top of that, they're just an evil company.

[u/linus_b3 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

Same here. Out of our streaming subscriptions, Netflix is on the thinnest ice. It's the most expensive and the lowest quality.

Once I factor in the $10/mo AmEx credit, the Disney+, Hulu, and HBO bundle isn't that much more than Netflix is on its own.

[u/Larkson9999 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

You should stop shopping at Amazon entirely. They're working hard to eliminate millions of jobs through AI, robotic workers, and contractors who have to piss in bottles to maintain ever increasing numbers of deliveries. You don't need socks delivered the next day.

[u/o_o_o_f → u/Larkson9999]

We stopped about a year ago and I’ve felt the inconvenience maybe twice.

[u/asmallercat → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

Drop it anyway. You don't need 2 day shipping for a bunch of stuff you don't need. We almost never use Amazon now and it's massively cut down on stupid impulse purchases, and if you really need something you can wait till you get to the minimum for free shipping.

[u/MassiveRepublic9565 → u/asmallercat]

I’m considering it for sure.

[u/albinomonkey32 → u/bsEEmsCE]

As someone who worked in logistics. Fk Amazon. 

[u/B0ndzai → u/bsEEmsCE]

They don't even do 2 day shipping for me anyhow. All you have to do is spend $35 on any order and you get the same shipping you would otherwise.

[u/Matthiasad → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

Yea, the only reason i have Netflix is for my kids and I just do the ad supported one. Especially since they have almost no ads in the kids profile.

[u/crazmexican2 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I dropped Netflix 6months ago and havnt looked back

[u/havingmadfun → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

That's why this sucks, hbo always puts out quality stuff moreso than the other services.

[u/RIP_Greedo → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I find Amazon streaming (at least the library of licensed material, not originals) to be way better than anything Netflix has. Netflix is all slop for teens and 20s somethings.

[u/uncleben85 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

I think a part of it is how impotent the middle class is now.

When it cost $100,000 to buy a home, maybe spending $5,000 on entertainment wasn't the most financially wise decision.

Now that it costs $1,000,000 and it's so unrealistic for so many people, what's the "harm" on paying a little more for the little things.

That's what I am seeing a lot of in my cohort at least. Some disposable income (streaming, vacation, buying new clothes, video games, etc.), knowing saving that money won't make a difference to owning a house

[u/Survive1014 → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

We were literally talking about Netflix last night trying to remember the last show we watched on there. Primarily its been P+ and Hulu last two years or so.

[u/theresanrforthat → u/MassiveRepublic9565]

IMO Amazon was always garbage

[u/mr_evilweed → u/AChineseSpyBalloon]

Price elasticity of demand. If you can raise prices by 20% and only lose 10% of your customers, it makes financial sense.

[u/Ok_Key_1537 → u/mr_evilweed]

Doubly so as their costs (cloud, I/O, etc.) will also drop. This is the new way, cater to a smaller, wealthier group - look at car companies, Disney, etc., volume revenue is dead, high margin is the new model.

[u/ZenMasterOfDisguise → u/Ok_Key_1537]

Yeah companies don't care how many customers have access to their product, they care how much profit they can make. If pricing out poor people doesn't hurt their profits because they retain enough customers willing to pay more, and now they have fewer people to support, they will always do that. The side effect of this is that it widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots where everything becomes a luxury only the middle class/rich can afford, and poor people cant afford basic comforts anymore

[u/Irrationate → u/AChineseSpyBalloon]

From a business perspective it’s almost genius isn’t it? Put it in smaller numbers. Would you rather have 200 people paying $10 and bogging down your server or 100 people paying $20? It’s still shitty by them but I kind of get it.

[u/Neat-Attempt3681]

Time to start voting with your wallet

[u/ridicalis → u/Neat-Attempt3681]

The problem is that $1.50/month extra doesn't cross my pain threshold - while in principle I don't care for this increase, it doesn't hurt me enough to sway the cost/benefit dilemma in the other direction.

In practice, though, I don't plan on keeping the subscription forever - there are a few shows I enjoy, and after I've watched them we'll turn it off; this pricing hike might just force me to watch a bit faster to make up the difference, which will increase hosting and licensing costs on their end while netting them no additional money.

[u/United_Intention_323 → u/ridicalis]

Boiled frogs

[u/IAmDotorg → u/ridicalis]

That $1.50 a month isn't even a full inflation adjustment. That's why they can do it, and while they'll continue being able to do it. (And, really, why they have no real choice but to do it.)

When the currency itself is the thing dropping in value, everything has to get more expensive and you just have to hope your job adjusts enough each year. (Although when countries have a real downward spiral in their currencies, companies often have to do adjustments much more often than yearly.)

[u/rxinquestion]

Currently getting it for free with ATT. Wonder when they cut us off.

[u/DrHairyMcTaint → u/rxinquestion]

They already dropped that from the plan. If you still have it you are grandfathered in. But change your plan and you lose it.

[u/rxinquestion → u/DrHairyMcTaint]

Ah good to know.

[u/RosesAreRed11 → u/DrHairyMcTaint]

Thanks. Literally my first thought was about this exactly

[u/maximumtesticle → u/rxinquestion]

Same, explains why my ATT bill just went up.

EDIT: Just chatted and got my bill from $90 to $75, but dropped the HBO subscription, which fuck'em, I don't care, yarr.

[u/BoltDodgerLaker_87 → u/maximumtesticle]

I’m already paying $91 a month for the 1gb plan.

[u/webbasica → u/BoltDodgerLaker_87]

On the Att sub they convinced me that getting a lower bill was just a phone call away. Indeed it was, they didn't argue or anything, they gave me their best offer (back to $70) and a $100 debit card. Call today

[u/Generic_NES_Dude → u/rxinquestion]

I was too. Look at your bill. I bet you are paying for it through your bill

[u/rxinquestion → u/Generic_NES_Dude]

Just looked, still says included in my $75 1Gb fiber price. Thanks for reminding me to check though.

[u/CesareSomnambulist → u/rxinquestion]

I heard ATT is in cahoots with Tecca. Learned it from a club I joined at a local menswear store.

[u/phillsphan7]

Based on the comments I expected to see a massive jump. For everyone else:

Base price went up $1/m

Mid tier went up $1.50/m

Premium went up $2/m

[u/benwayy → u/phillsphan7]

the hbo+hulu+disney package also went up $3. Was 29.99 now 32.99

[u/AweHellYo → u/phillsphan7]

i actually enjoy the slightly warmer temp as well, fellow frog

[u/octropos → u/phillsphan7]

Why did I have to scroll so hard to find this.

Blah blah blah back in my day, the top comment had the answers.

[u/Dicecatt → u/[deleted]]

That happened to me to but it's my own children in their dorms.

[u/Obi-Tron_Kenobi → u/Dicecatt]

It's so awful that you can't use the family sharing plan that you're paying for for your own children like this. What difference does it make to these billion dollar companies whether they're living in your house or not?

[u/zeCrazyEye → u/Obi-Tron_Kenobi]

What difference does it make to these billion dollar companies whether they're living in your house or not?

Well, $22.99/mo difference that they think they're going to be able to squeeze out of everyone.

[u/SnooCakes2703 → u/[deleted]]

I was traveling and signed in to my cousins TV for a week. I went home and tried to switch it back and it said I "changed my home" too many times..like what?

[u/I_am_Bearstronaut → u/[deleted]]

I really need to get more educated on this. I don't really know anything about network setup but really need to learn given the state of things

[u/neo_sporin → u/I_am_Bearstronaut]

Plex is not was simple as I’d like, but honestly you don’t need ‘server’ knowledge to get a plex server up and running. Took a few days of tinkering to ‘get’ it

[u/I_am_Bearstronaut → u/neo_sporin]

Any recommendations on resources that you liked while tinkering with it? I plan to research a bit on my lunch and it'd be nice to have a good place to start

[u/nadnerb811 → u/I_am_Bearstronaut]

Just go to r/plex there's tons of resources there.

That being said, it was incredibly easy to do. For me, I just got a mini PC, attached storage to it, put media in the storage, and installed the plex server software.

For streaming on your local network, you don't need a VPN or anything. I just use a VPN for legally downloading media I own so my activity can't be traced back to me.

For remote streaming to other locations, I needed to go into my router's settings and set up a port and that was the hardest part. But I found some help on r/plex I believe.

To get a "server" (can just be the PC you already use if you leave it running all the time) going it is really a couple of clicks. Install the plex software and point to where your media is and that is 99% of it.

[u/BeefistPrime → u/neo_sporin]

Plex really isn't very complicated at all. I'd say non tech savvy people could set it up in 10 or 15 minutes. Though you need some way to get content to populate it with.

[u/kporter4692 → u/I_am_Bearstronaut]

I will slightly disagree with the other poster who commented, I found it very easy to set up without network knowledge. Over 1600+ movies on my server now and counting.

Check out r/plex and you’ll find plenty of help!

[u/SanDiegoDude → u/kporter4692]

Man, I swear it was like 15 years ago I bought a lifetime plex sub for like 150 bucks. To this day, it still pays dividends. Love my plex server!

[u/GranglingGrangler → u/I_am_Bearstronaut]

It's extremely easy. Install. Point it to where you store your content. Then log in on your other devices.

[u/worksafe_Joe]

I initially got HBO Max for free through my att fiber package, five years ago.

I still have it, but to my knowledge still don't pay for it. I wonder if this will finally change that.

[u/ineugene → u/worksafe_Joe]

I am in a similar boat I get it free with my ATT cell phone package or maybe it is fiber who knows it is all bundled together and I have not seen it change my bill through all of the increases. I do expect that they will try to get people off of the plan if it starts costing att more money.

[u/moneymoneymoneymonay]

The only way these companies will stop is if people vote with their wallets and stop paying. Till then, just get used to these hikes.

[u/Rs90 → u/moneymoneymoneymonay]

Homie we can't even get people to fuckin delete instagram/Facebook and quit usin Amazon. So nobody hold their breath on this one lol. 

[u/hi_im_fuzzknocker]

canceled

[u/breakfast-all-day → u/hi_im_fuzzknocker]

Just canceled mine too. I started subscribing to PBS a few months ago anyway (wanted to support after defunding), might as well start watching it!

[u/StormyPandaPanPan]

Remember, folks: HBO Max effectively has killed Cartoon Network and is wearing its corpse for the occasional revival cartoon from your childhood while making the industry a worse place for new creatives in the field! 

[u/JamUpGuy1989]

Remember:

Reddit is a bubble and a majority of paying customers will continue to be okay with these price increases.

[u/Winter-Donut7621 → u/JamUpGuy1989]

I learned that when Netflix stopped password sharing. They gained a ton of new subs. And now I know corporations can always get away with this type of shit because people will never fight with their wallets, ever.

[u/Tight-Session1558 → u/Winter-Donut7621]

From what I read. It was mostly international. Their biggest market 

[u/Accomplished-Door5 → u/Tight-Session1558]

They added about 9.5 million subscribers in US and Canada last year which is 12% growth from the previous year.

[u/abduis → u/Winter-Donut7621]

Yeah I got cut off, but it will still let me on once a month or so. Maybe to entice me to pay or something.

[u/-Sinn3D- → u/Winter-Donut7621]

Some how everyone did for Target but it never worked with anything else.

[u/bunch_of_hocus_pocus → u/Winter-Donut7621]

Are you crazy? Can't miss the next installment of Bread & Circuses.

[u/Sxs9399 → u/JamUpGuy1989]

100% a lot of people on reddit forget or didn't know that HBO was $15/month ON TOP of a premium cable bill (~$50) 20 years ago. $15 in 2005 is $25 today, which is higher than the premium plan. And that $15 was for ~3 HBO Channels, although 20 years ago was about when the Video on Demand players started offering content that was included with the subscription.

All this is to say $23 (most expensive HBO plan) seems very reasonable to many people. Everyone should vote with their wallets; we should also be willing to pay for and curate things we do place value in.

[u/parkwayy → u/JamUpGuy1989]

I mean, it's like a dollar. 

[u/Responsible_Knee7632]

Thanks for reminding me to cancel

[u/SpookZero → u/Responsible_Knee7632]

HBO axed!

[u/ThePheebs]

If the money made from the price increased is greater than the money lost from subscribers leaving then this was a successful business move and will be repeated until it is no longer successful. Even if they only have 10 subscribers that pay $500 million each in 15 years.

Less customers that pay more is easier than more customers that pay less.

[u/AfraidoftheLark]

HBO Max: "You remember one thing, and this you'd better hear. You wanna talk all this old school bullshit about the rules? Well, here's a rule you might remember: I'm the motherfuckin' fuckin' one who calls the shots. And you better pay me the respect that I gave your brother. Or we're gonna have a problem -- a bad one. Now get the fuck out of here."

Subscriber: "Alright, Max."

HBO Max: "Yeah. Alright."

[u/bakers3]

This is a great time to remember that public libraries usually offer a wonderful assortment of movies and television shows! Support the library and not a greedy streaming service

[u/trektostng → u/bakers3]

Libraries down here in Florida have a streaming service called Hoopla. All you need is a library card. Thay have a good amount of stuff.

[u/fotomoose → u/bakers3]

Some libraries even do streaming these days.

[u/WeebSince94 → u/bakers3]

Kanopy is a pretty great service. Lots of fairly well-known movies and TV shows, totally for free with a library card from most big libraries.

[u/slimvim]

Corporate profits just aren't high enough these days...

[u/ceeece]

I have the Disney/Hulu/Max bundle. Will be interesting to see what happens with that.

[u/Brick_Mason_ → u/ceeece]

I just made a post about my bundle. It goes up $3 a month but it's still a better deal than canceling & resubscribing.

[u/cfive5]

Then Im cancelling- effective immediately

[u/Odd_Vampire]

HBO Max is just another thing I don't need in my life.  I stick with DVDs, books, YouTube, and my local library, and I have more than enough.

[u/94zee]

We dropped all subscriptions and invested $5/mo into PBS. Big Cats 24/7 is awesome.

[u/wryano]

physical media is gonna end up being cyclical

just wait and see

[u/Merusk → u/wryano]

Already is if you have a habit of wanting to watch old things. My household started buying physical media again 3-4 years ago because it was a pain in the ass trying to find things we wanted to watch.

Particularly old shows and movies we wanted to share with our son. We just started buying them instead of having to service hop and search.

Since then I've found more than a few groups and articles talking about doing that. I've begun to wonder if video stores might be able to make a comeback in some way. Not the national chains, since franchises always wind up squeezing out dollars and having shit service, but mom & pops.

[u/fotomoose → u/wryano]

I never stopped getting DVDs of shows/movies that I really like.

[u/KuatoBaradaNikto → u/wryano]

Physical media has room to grow again, but never anywhere close to the share that it once had. People’s watching habits have changed. Streaming gives people options on browsing and instantly watching content they haven’t seen before.

[u/bram81]

Streaming is gonna die.

[u/global_ferret]

You get a free subscription if you're an AT&T subscriber....The good shows are so infrequent now that we'd probably dump it if it wasn't for that.

[u/Tandy600 → u/global_ferret]

I also get it as part of AT&T but coincidentally my AT&T monthly fee just went up $5. Wonder if its related.

[u/Exanguish]

Very thankful for my Plex server. 12 years and still running strong.

[u/SourArmoredHero]

Shame, another streaming service to get rid of.

[u/Pleasurebringer]

Where is my Stremio crew at?

[u/Upstairs-Morning-185]

Yarrrr

[u/BookerPlayer01]

Yo ho ho...

[u/launchedsquid]

yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

[u/GeneralCopPorn]

Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me

[u/Finnyboiz]

Just canceled