The rebranded HBO Max service launches today, new 4K tier announced

Warner Bros. announced its HBO Max streaming service will be rebranded and relaunched on May 23 as Max. Earlier today, the company officialized the name change and revealed a brand-new $20 4K tier that customers can subscribe to starting today.

Called Ultimate Ad-Free, the new tier offers four concurrent streams, up to 100 offline downloads and about eight times more films and episodes of 4K UHD content than the previous HBO Max service, including popular series like Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight trilogy, The Matrix movies, and The Last of Us.

The Ultimate Ad-Free tier costs $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. According to Warner Bros. all existing HBO Max subscribers will continue to have access to their current plan perks and benefits for a minimum of six months following the launch of Max. The company also states that Dolby Atmos and Vision support will be available for select content and devices.

There’s a huge list of 4K content available to stream on the service’s new Ultimate Ad-Free tier at launch, so make sure to check it out if you plan to subscribe.

Up until now, Max only offered two tiers: Max Ad-Lite and Max Ad-Free. The former is available for $9.99/month ($99.99/year), while the latter costs $15.99/month ($149.99/year). The addition of a third pricing option is meant to provide customers with a premium tier, which, frankly speaking, seems a bit too expensive.

Both Max Ad-Lite and Max Ad-Free offer two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, and 5.1 surround sound quality, but if you subscribe to the cheapest tier, you’ll be getting ads and no option to download any content for later viewing. On the other hand, Max Ad-Free has 30 offline downloads included and no ads.

Keep in mind that Max is only available in the United States at launch. Warner Bros. plans to expand availability of its rebranded streaming service to international markets, starting with Latin America later in 2023, followed by select countries across Europe and Asia in 2024.