DirecTV Stream will begin charging subscribers $15.99 for Max on August 20, 2023. This change is not exactly a price increase, but more of a move in line with the current market price of Max.
HBO Max transitioned to Max at the end of May. Back in January, however, the price of an HBO Max subscription increased from $14.99 to $15.99 a month. Naturally, many third-party companies, including Hulu and YouTube TV, followed suit and increased their prices soon after.
As we noted back in May, DirecTV Stream didn’t increase the price of its HBO Max add-on at the time, and still hadn’t after the transition to Max, making it the cheapest way to subscribe to the streaming service.
That is now set to change next month.
DirecTV Stream has begun updating various pages on its website to confirm that the price of the add-on will increase to $15.99 a month on August 20, 2023. For example, the add-ons page now states “All selected channels auto-renew after 3 mos. at then-prevailing rates [currently $14.99/mo. for Max ($15.99/mo. beginning 8/20/23).”
The below message is also now displayed on the DirecTV Stream home page.
“Max, SHOWTIME, STARZ, MGM+ and Cinemax auto-renew after 3 months at then prevailing rates [currently $14.99/mo. for Max ($15.99/mo. beginning 8/20/23).”
DirecTV Stream
As recently as last week, DirecTV Stream was still advertising the price of Max at $14.99, and we have found a few instances where the price is still being advertised without any mention of the increase, suggesting that the updating of the website’s pricing is still in progress.
When adding the Max add-on to a live TV plan, it still lists the price as $14.99 a month, without mentioning the price increase.
This change will not only affects new subscribers adding Max to their live TV plan, but also existing subscribers who are already paying for the add-on.
As is the case with any price change, the exact date their Max subscription will increase depends on their individual billing cycle. However, no new or existing subscribers will begin paying the higher rate before August 20.
For new subscribers, specifically, the date they begin paying $15.99 for Max could be delayed by as much as three months. A promotion DirecTV Stream has been running for some time now offers new customers the option to add Max, Cinemax, Starz, Showtime, and MGM+ to any live TV plan for free for three months.
If signing up today and taking advantage of this free Max offer, new customers won’t be charged the full $15.99 until the end of the discounted period.
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