Skydance says Discovery Plus price rises were in the works before the Warner Bros. Discovery merger

Someone who watches Deadliest Catch on Discovery Plus can also find it inside an HBO Max subscription ^[8]. So can Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives ^[8]. Warner Bros. Discovery owned both services until Paramount closed its acquisition ^[2], and in our view that overlap is the first thing a subscriber should weigh against the higher bill.

The ad-supported plan rose $1.00, about 17 percent ^[9]. The ad-free plan rose $2.00, about 20 percent ^[10]. Over a year that comes to $12 more on the ad tier and $24 more on ad-free ^[11]. The gap between the tiers widened from $4.00 to $5.00 a month, so the premium for skipping ads is 25 percent larger ^[12].

New subscribers pay the new price immediately ^[4]. The Verge reported that existing subscribers will see it on their next billing statement on or after November 12 ^[4]. Ars Technica described the same date as the start of 30 days' notice, beginning with bills issued as of November 12 ^[5].

On the question of why now, the only account in either report is the company's. A Skydance spokesperson told Ars Technica that the pricing changes were in the works before Discovery Plus knew about the merger and were not planned in anticipation of it ^[13]. The spokesperson said the service's prices are regularly evaluated against the content and experience it offers ^[14]. That is the pitch. The thing done is a $1 or $2 increase on a catalogue that, by The Verge's account, overlaps with HBO Max ^[8]. Neither report mentions new content or features arriving with the increase.

The merger plan names two services. Skydance intends to fold Paramount Plus and HBO Max into "a single service over time" ^[6]. Discovery Plus is not in that sentence, and The Verge wrote that it is not clear whether the service will remain a standalone streamer ^[7]. In our view a price increase fits either outcome, so the timing settles nothing about the service's future. The previous increase came in January 2025 ^[3].

For whoever has to answer for the subscription, two checks sort the decision. The first is whether you also pay for HBO Max. The second is whether at least one show you watch appears only on Discovery Plus, which you can test by searching HBO Max for last month's viewing.

Someone who pays for both and finds every show on HBO Max holds a duplicate, and the new price is the occasion to drop it. If one show is exclusive to Discovery Plus, keep the service and take the $6.99 tier unless ad-free matters, since the premium is now $5 a month. A customer without HBO Max whose shows all overlap should price HBO Max against $6.99 and $11.99 before the next bill. A customer without HBO Max whose shows are exclusive pays the new price, because there is nowhere else to watch them. Existing subscribers meet that price on their first bill on or after November 12, so the check has to be done before it ^[4].