For many of us, password-sharing helped fill a pandemic-fueled void with our favorite movies and TV shows, allowing us to piggyback on each other’s accounts to save money. Now, more and more streaming services are curbing the practice, and Max (formerly HBO Max) is the latest to join the party.
Max Will Start Charging More for Shared Accounts
According to a recent earnings call, streaming heavyweight Max is about to follow through on its earlier threats to take action against password-sharing. From the sounds of it, Max won’t ban the practice altogether, but it will start charging more for shared subscriptions.
If you subscribe to or are sharing a Max account, you’re likely to receive a message soon from the company asking you to upgrade to a higher-paying subscription that will support members living in multiple households.
How Will the New Max Compare to Other Streaming Services?
From what we know so far, it seems like Max will take a page out of Netflix’s approach to controlling password sharing and offer a way to keep sharing your account with folks outside your household—for an additional fee. That said, it’s not currently clear how Max’s pricing will break down.
We’re likely to see messages rolling out over the next month or so, which could be followed by more information on pricing options.
One possible outcome is that you’ll be able to add extra members to your account for a separate price per person, as Netflix does. Alternatively, Max could go with a flat add-on for “extra member” sharing privileges, which is what Disney+ does to manage password sharing.
Similarly, Hulu has banned password piggybacking, but at the time of writing, Hulu does not have higher-paying subscription options to support sharing like Netflix and Disney+ do. For this streaming service, more than one household means more than one account—period. In fact, according to Hulu’s Subscriber Agreement, the company could “terminate access” to your account if it catches you sharing your account outside of your household.
Email Hulu just sent me to let me know that I will no longer be allowed to share my Hulu account with other people outside of my household. For all preexisting Hulu subscribers this goes into effect on March 14. pic.twitter.com/P4dbY3S29T — Eli Sanza (@ejunkie2014) February 1, 2024
For now, don’t fret too much about Max: you can still mooch off of your friend’s account to watch Game of Thrones for the fifth time. It’s just going to cost you a little bit more. That said, we could see a general price increase on Max soon, regardless of sharing policies. And while there are plenty of reasons to love Max, I might have to go back to a ramen noodle diet if it goes any higher.
