Two Of The World's Biggest Streaming Services Are Combining Into One

Streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ are set to combine into one huge new platform, NBC News reports. 

The news was announced by the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, during a second-quarter earnings call yesterday (4 August), and comes just days after the confirmation that the upcoming Batgirl movie and Scoob! sequel, Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, have been completely cancelled, and won’t release on any platform (cinema or online).

Despite the movie being cancelled, Batgirl will still be appearing as a playable character in Gotham Knights - take a look below.

Reportedly, the newly merged platform will launch in the US sometime in summer 2023, and in other parts of the world in 2024. Although a name for the service hasn’t been revealed yet, IGN claim that there were some “significant hints” that it won’t include “HBO” in the title at all, so it could be called something entirely new. 

According to NBC News, HBO Max and Discovery+ currently have a combined total of 92 million subscribers, but Warner Bros. Discovery are hoping for that number to reach 130 million worldwide by 2025. 

Apparently, no pricing plan has been revealed yet, either, but Zaslav claimed that the company are considering a free version of the platform, supported with ads. The existing ad-supported tier of HBO Max costs $9.99 a month (as opposed to $14.99 without ads).

Following the cancellation of Batgirl earlier this week, Leslie Grace (AKA Barbara Gordon) took to Instagram to share how proud she was to have been a part of the movie. “Querida familia! On the heels of the recent news about our movie Batgirl, I am proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film over seven months in Scotland,” she wrote. “I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process! To every Batgirl fan – THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, ‘My own damn hero!’ Batgirl for life.”