Max Drops Plans for Paid Sports Tier, Limits Access for Ad-Supported Users

Warner Bros. Discovery will keep sports and news content free for Standard and Premium subscribers but will remove it from the Basic With Ads tier starting March 30.

Max has abandoned its earlier plan to charge an extra $9.99 per month for its B/R Sports and CNN Max add-ons, keeping them free for Standard and Premium tier subscribers.
Starting March 30, sports and news content will no longer be available on the Basic With Ads tier, which costs $9.99 per month.
The decision comes after Warner Bros. Discovery assessed user engagement with sports and news content over the past year and aims to prioritize these offerings in higher subscription tiers.
B/R Sports streams over 1,700 live games annually, including NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, and NASCAR events, though the platform will lose NBA broadcasting rights after this season.
Warner Bros. Discovery is positioning live sports and news as key components of its streaming strategy to compete with platforms like Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.

The Hollywood Reporter

Adweek

The Verge

Engadget