If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.
Max increases monthly subscription costs just before House of the Dragon season 2, because dragon war is expensive
Only the ad-free tiers are impacted by the increase, which is good news for fans happy to watch fantasy with plenty of interruptions
Popverse's top stories of the day
- How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
- Watch: Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
- Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
Good news: after almost a year and a half, the second season of House of the Dragon is almost here. The bad news: for those planning to watch it on Max it’ll cost more to make that happen, with the streaming service announcing an increase in subscription costs for its ad-free options.
The price increase takes place effective immediately, with a $1 rise in the US for the ad-free tier — moving from $15.99 monthly to $16.99, and an annual plan jump from $149.99 to $169.99. (Yes, that’s a $20 increase, rather than a $12 increase if you were paying monthly.) The “Ultimate Ad-Free” plan also gets a $1 monthly bump, hitting $20.99 monthly, while the annual Ultimate Ad-Free plan rate goes up $10 per year, hitting $209.99 annually. New subscribers will pay the new prices as of today; existing subscribers will pay the increased prices with their next billing cycle.
The Max with Ads plan is unchanged, however; it remains $9.99 monthly, or $99.99 annually.
What’s particularly notable about this price hike is that it’s the second time that Max has increased its subscription price just ahead of a highly anticipated show debuting on the service; in January 2023, the service also increased its subscription price by a dollar monthly less than a week before the debut of The Last of Us. This time around, the increase comes just ahead of the much-anticipated second season debut of the Game of Thrones prequel, which begins June 16. Apparently, the streamer is well aware of what shows people are very excited about, and time the bad news to arrive just when they’re most likely to be forgiven for asking for more money.
Max’s increase also arrives a day after Spotify announced its own subscription price increase, with the individual plan also increasing by $1 a month. All we need now is a third streaming service to announce a similar upgrade, and we have ourselves a genuine trend, unfortunately.
Want to know what's coming up next in pop culture? Check out Popverse's guides to:
And if you're looking for specific franchises or genres, we've also got lists for the:
Finally, if you're a fan of superheroes and not specific to just Marvel or DC, we have overall guides to:
Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news
Find out how we conduct our review by reading our review policy
Let Popverse be your tour guide through the wilderness of pop culture
Sign in and let us help you find your new favorite thing.
Comments
Want to join the discussion? Please activate your account first.
Visit Reedpop ID if you need to resend the confirmation email.