• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, January 12, 2023

Warner Bros. Discovery's HBO has upped the monthly price for HBO Max's ad-free tier by $1, to $15.99.

This is the first time HBO Max has increased a monthly fee since its launch in May 2020.

The price of the ad-supported tier will remain at $9.99 per month.

Existing subscribers now paying $14.99 will get the hike as of their next billing cycle, on or after February 11.

The price increase "will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” HBO said in its announcement.

Last month, during a Citi communications and media conference, WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said that he thinks streaming service subscription prices are too low, and that there is "a lot of upside opportunity" in raising them. 

In what is likely no coincidence, the increase comes as WBD prepares to launch a combined HBO Max, Discovery+ offering this spring.

WBD has been dropping some syndicated shows and pulling the plug on some movie launches for HBO/HBO Max as part of its push to reduce debt by cutting billions in expenses.