Max Abandons Plan to Charge for Bleacher Report Sports Add-On
Warner Bros. Discovery has abandoned a plan to charge an additional fee for Max's Bleacher Report (B/R) Sports add-on, at least in the short term.
The new subscription tier, which was first revealed in October 2023, was initially set to be offered at no additional charge through Feb. 29, 2024, and cost $9.99 per month thereafter. But the paid version of the offering was delayed by Max after it said it was finalizing some 'tech integrations that will ensure a more seamless customer experience with our platform partners.'
'This path will not be pursued for now,' WBD said in an update on Wednesday.
Additionally, the streamer will no longer offer B/R Sports and CNN Max in its Basic With Ads tier starting March 30.
'Over the last year plus, we had the opportunity to assess how users engage with sports and news on Max, and we've been actively involved in exploring ways to evolve the sports distribution ecosystem in the U.S. We believe that the best place for that content for now is within the Standard and Premium tiers,' WBD Global Streaming and games president and CEO JB Perrette said in a statement. 'This update ensures that subscribers can continue to enjoy that coveted access within Max, while also enabling ongoing investment in our premium sports and news portfolio.'
B/R Sports on Max offers more than 1,700 live games and events each year, including the NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR, Roland-Garros, Big 12, BIG EAST, U.S. Soccer, Premier Cycling, and more, including pre- and post-game studio programming, multi-sport on-demand content, special features, and live series from Bleacher Report.
2025 highlights include NCAA Men's March Madness games, select games from the 2025 NBA Playoffs starting in April, the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final, MLB Tuesday regular season games and the National League Division Series and Championship Series, more than 45 games of Unrivaled's inaugural season of 3×3 women's basketball, up to 20 U.S. Men's and Women's National team soccer matchups, NASCAR's inaugural five-race in-season challenge starting June 2025, as well as NASCAR Cup Series practices and qualifying sessions for the second half of the season, grand slam tennis coverage of over 900 matches from Roland-Garros, select Big 12 college basketball and college football games, select BIG EAST men's and women's college basketball games;,two First Round games of the 2025 College Football Playoffs, upcoming installments of The Match, a premier live golf event, and more.
While WBD has lost the U.S. rights to NBA games starting in the 2025/26 season, it reached a settlement with the league that will allow it to develop new shows and give the company international NBA rights in Northern Europe and Latin America, excluding Mexico and Brazil. TNT Sports will also continue to produce 'Inside the NBA,' which will be licensed to ESPN and ABC.
CNN Max offers subscribers a 24/7 news streaming feed, alongside expanded access to on-demand news content and CNN Originals. In January, CNN CEO Mark Thompson outlined plans to launch a separate streaming service for the network, which would be 'a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose.'
Max's Basic With Ads tier currently costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, while the Standard plan is available for $16.99 per month or $169.99 per year and the Premium plan is available for $20.99 per month and $209.99 per year.
The post Max Abandons Plan to Charge for Bleacher Report Sports Add-On appeared first on TheWrap.
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