Ugh, Max subscription prices might be going up again

Your cable streaming bill may be getting more expensive once again. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is reportedly planning another price increase for Max. Bloomberg didn't reveal how much WBD is expected to jack up the subscription by. The cheapest ad-free plan is currently $16 per month after a $1 increase in early 2023. WBD is said to be aiming for $1 billion in earnings from Max and Discovery+ next year.

We could find out about any Max price increase as soon as Thursday. That's when WBD will report its earnings for the first three months of the year.

The price increase may be on the way as part of WBD's seemingly never-ending cost-cutting drive. As part of that, more layoffs may be in the pipeline. Over the last year, the company has fired more than 2,000 people and eliminated their positions.

Very soon after WBD formed in 2022 following a merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, CEO David Zazlav went into extreme costcutting mode as the company was saddled with over $50 billion in debt. The company quickly axed the just-launched CNN+, laid off staff, canceled projects, moved shows and movies from Max to ad-supported streaming services and shelved completed or nearly finished movies in favor of tax breaks.

Zazlav has reduced WBD's debt load by around $10 billion so far, according to Bloomberg. However, his decisions have infuriated creatives and many fans, such as those who are clamoring for the company to release the highly regarded live-action Looney Tunes film Coyote vs. Acme instead of canning it for a tax rebate.

Coincidentally, Variety on Wednesday published a list of media and tech CEOs' pay packages for 2023. Zazlav's compensation is said to have shot up by 26.5 percent to $49.7 million. That's around 290 times what the median WBD employee makes.