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it's been a few months since warner
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brothers discovery launched and we're
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learning a whole lot more about the big
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changes coming to hbmx and discovery
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plus let's get into it we already knew
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hbo max and discovery plus would combine
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into a single service i told you about
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that news back in march during an
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investor call in august we learned that
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the new service will launch in the u.s
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in the summer of 2023 about a year from
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now no name or details on the pricing
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just yet but company executives
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confirmed there will be an ad free
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version and also an ad lite version
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similar to what hbo max and discovery
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plus offer right now a big priority for
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warner brothers discovery executives is
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reducing the churn rate that's why these
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two services are going to be combining
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in the first place the way they see it
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hbo max is a service with scripted
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programming that will attract
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subscribers it was referred to as
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appointment tv on this call and then you
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have discovery plus which was described
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as comfort viewing that retained
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subscribers there's a lot of time
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between now and next summer but some
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changes are happening in the interim and
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we got confirmation of those changes on
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this call first up discovery plus we'll
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be adding a cnn hub with original series
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and films and hbo max is going to host
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some magnolia content from chip and
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joanna gaines maybe you read that warner
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brothers discovery decided to shelve the
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batgirl film it was set to launch on hbo
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max ceo david zaslav explained that move
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on the call he said expensive
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direct-to-streaming movies do not
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compare to theatrical releases we cannot
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find an economic value for it so here's
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what that means going forward zazlaf
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said he plans to focus on creating
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quality films not quantity and then
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releasing those films in theaters first
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before they show up on a streaming
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service throughout this call warner
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brothers discovery seemed very focused
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on cutting costs and after all zasa have
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promised investors three billion dollars
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in savings executives also mentioned
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challenges related to the economy like
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inflation and a possible recession those
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executives emphasize that streaming is
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just one component of the business and
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during the q a session someone asked
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them about the linear tv decline that's
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the cable tv networks saslev said people
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are still tuning in especially for
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sports and also for news and he expects
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it to be a very good business for many
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many years to come we'll see if he's
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we also got a warning about discounted
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pricing those deals that all of us like
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one executive on the call explained a
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shift away from heavily discounted
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promos to a more balanced approach that
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optimizes revenue and subscribers so in
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other words expect fewer deals i've
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heard this before from other companies
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but less than a month ago discovery plus
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was offering two months of service for
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99 cents a month of course i'll keep you
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posted on any deals in the future and in
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addition to the combined hbo max and
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discovery plus service we also learned
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about a potential free streaming service
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that's in the works warner brothers
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discovery says it's exploring a free ad
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supported service and if it launches it
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would offer different content compared
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to the premium offering and would be a
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way to upsell people to the combined
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premium service thanks for watching
