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HBO Maxis set to become Max on May 23 with a new logo and fuller catalog. In addition to streaming everything on HBO Max, subscribers will have access to Discovery Plus programming and a slate of new TV shows and movies under the Warner Bros. banner. You may be wondering, though, whether this means plans and pricing are also changing.

There are no major price hikes set to go in effect, but there will be some changes to subscriptions. Here, we outline what you can expect on each subscription plan once Max rolls out.

Read more: Best Streaming Services of 2023

HBO Max currently has two subscription tiers: With Ads for $10 a month ($100 per year) and Ad-Free at $16 monthly ($150 annually). Both plans stream in HD with some 4K content, and you can stream on up to three devices simultaneously. The ad-free version comes with 30 downloads and the ability to watch if you're traveling to a country where HBO Max is available.

When Max arrives this month, you will be able to choose from three options or keep your current subscription. Dubbed Ad-Lite, Ad-Free and Ultimate, the new Max plans will have some slight changes in how they're packaged and what's offered. Ad-Lite includes ads, two streams and HD resolution, while the ad-free plan is essentially the same, but you get offline downloads and no ads. Like the current HBO Max, there are no restrictions on what content you can watch based on which Max subscription you have. All plans will grant access to the full Max library.

The chart below outlines Max's price tiers and how users will get two concurrent streams on the lower-priced plans. Though the monthly price is the same (for now), it's a switch from the current offerings.

Since its initial launch in May 2020, HBO Max has had a limited amount of 4K content on the platform. A select number of films and originals are available to stream in 4K on its ad-free plan only, and the service provides an updated list of those titles on its help page. Currently, you're able to stream roughly 35 titles, including House of the Dragon, Dune, Elvis, Game of Thrones, The Suicide Squad and a handful of others.

When Max launches, you will have to pay $20 per month to watch anything in 4K. For some, that means a $4 increase to upgrade to the Ultimate plan, which is packaged similarly to Netflix's $20 Premium subscription. It's unclear how many titles will be available in 4K on Max, but it will be more than what's on the platform now. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery has said some features -- like 4K -- will still be available on current subscription plans for six months as the app transitions to Max.

If you already have HBO Max, you don't have to do anything if you want Max when it launches. The platform will automatically upgrade with the new logo, features and catalog and customers will see the changes when opening the app on May 23. Some may be prompted to download the updated version of Max. If you want to change your subscription plan, you can do so through your billing provider. HBO Max/Warner-billed subscribers can switch plans in the settings section on your profile.

If you're not currently a subscriber, you can either sign up for HBO Max now and wait for the update, or register for a new Max plan when the service arrives next month.

Discovery Plus will remain a standalone streaming service that houses Discovery-branded content from networks like TLC, HGTV and Food Network. The service costs $5 per month for the ad-supported subscription and $7 a month without ads. There will not be any movies and TV shows from HBO, Warner, DC or HBO Max on the platform. However, Max will not have the entire catalog from Discovery Plus, but rather select titles.

At the time of this writing, Warner Bros. Discovery has not announced any bundles for customers who would like subscriptions to both Max and Discovery Plus.

Check out our other coverage on what the HBO Max rebrand means for you and what type of content you'll find on the new Max service.

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HBO Max vs. Max Subscriptions: The Differences Explained - CNET

The lawsuit alleges a county in the Republican-led state is cracking down on access to books on race and LGBTQ identity.

A writers group and a book publisher in the United States have sued a school district in the southern state of Florida over efforts to restrict the availability of books about race and LGBTQ identity in libraries.

The group PEN America and the publisher Penguin Random House announced the lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that the Escambia County School District and its school board violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution by removing 10 books on race and gender.

In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to suppress diverse voices, Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, said in a statement. In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand.

The lawsuit is the latest challenge to a series of conservative laws spearheaded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, some of which have targeted gay and transgender people as well as critical perspectives on race in the US.

DeSantis, expected to challenge former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican US presidential nomination, has sought to bolster his right-wing credentials among conservative voters.

On Wednesday, DeSantis signed laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth, restricting the use of gender-neutral pronouns in schools, and forcing transgender youth to use bathrooms based on the sex they were assigned at birth.

The governor has also championed laws restricting access to books on topics such as LGBTQ rights and Black history, positioning himself as a crusader against wokeness, a term used dismissively by some Republicans to describe issues of race, gender and sexuality.

Campaigns to restrict access to books discussing that subject matter have become increasingly common in Republican-led states across the country, and library groups say that 2022 saw a record number of efforts to ban books.

Democratic politicians have sought to capitalise on those efforts by portraying Republicans as extremists seeking to curtail ideas and lifestyles they disagree with.

Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you paid for your entire life, while cutting taxes for the very wealthy, dictating what healthcare decisions women can make, banning books and telling people who they can love, Democratic President Joe Biden said in the April video that launched his 2024 re-election campaign.

The acronym MAGA refers to Trumps Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

A February 2022 CBS poll found that more than 80 percent of respondents disagree with efforts to limit access to books that view US history with a critical lens and discuss sensitive issues of race.

The lawsuit in Florida states an art teacher objected to the books and asked for them to be removed. A district committee created to assess the suitability of library books recommended that they be kept in place but was overruled by the district, which then removed them.

The legal complaint alleges that, in every decision Escambia County has taken to remove a book, the school district has sided with a challenger expressing openly discriminatory opinions.

Not only do those removals therefore violate the First Amendment protections for free speech, but they also contradict the Fourteenth Amendment, which prevents discrimination on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, the lawsuit argues.

The targeted book removals we are seeing in Escambia County are blatantly unconstitutional attempts to silence and stigmatize, Nadine Farid Johnson, managing director of PEN America Washington and Free Expression Programs, said in Wednesdays press release.

The government should not foster censorship by proxy, allowing one person to decide what ideas are out of bounds for all.

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Censorship: US publisher sues over Florida book restrictions - Al Jazeera English

The Meridian Library on Cherry Lane is a popular place for residents to find books to check out, and find community resources and activities for all ages. Darin Oswald Idaho Statesman

Tuesday was a good day for freedom in Idaho.

In almost all cases, the forces of censorship far-right candidates whove attempted to take over local library boards took a thumping. Candidates who pledged that public libraries would remain places of free intellectual inquiry triumphed.

Perhaps the most hotly contested races were in Meridian, where there have been efforts to simply disband the district because the library has sex education books and books that make reference to the lives of gay people. Incumbent Destinie Hart, who has pledged to protect free expression, beat challenger Xavier Torres, who had signed the petition to disband the district, by more than a two-to-one margin. The results were essentially identical in the race between incumbent Josh Cummings and challenger David J. Tizekker.

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The pattern repeated at the Ada Community Library board, where anti-censorship candidates Mary Anne Saunders and Sandra Taylor prevailed over candidates who had pledged to govern the library according to conservative ideology.

And the trend of anti-censorship voting held up not just in the Treasure Valley but across much of the state. From North Idaho to eastern Idaho, library trustees committed to freedom generally prevailed.

The one exception was in Kootenai County, where pro-censorship challengers Tom Hanley and Tim Plass defeated incumbents Regina McCrea and Judy Meyer.

Hanley built his campaign on a lie. He pledged to protect children from the hardcore pornography that is available to children in our libraries, as the Coeur dAlene Press reported.

The assertions that libraries are full of porn and inappropriate material are ludicrous. But you can expect Hanley to call books he doesnt like pornography for the purposes of censoring them.

Kootenai County home to perhaps the most extreme faction of the Idaho Republican Party, which has increasingly been willing to link arms with characters like David Reilly is increasingly a pocket where censorship and indoctrination are advancing as freedom recedes.

Reilly has made shocking antisemitic statements, including Judaism is the religion of anti-Christ.

Reilly resigned from his job as a radio host in Pennsylvania after his supportive tweets and footage of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, became public, as the Daily News of Newburyport reported. As the Inlander subsequently reported, four days before the rally, a user later identified in court testimony as Reilly suggested the idea that participants march straight through the commons with torches for the night rally for the purpose of producing propaganda footage. The footage Reilly posted after the rally, with advertisements for another rally the following day, was exactly the kind of propaganda footage discussed in the post.

First, they took over the community college, which is now a shambles, and now the library, which may soon follow.

But the damage has largely been contained to Kootenai. And, given the incessant calls for censorship, calls that became one of the central themes of the last two legislative sessions, thats reason to celebrate.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesmans editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe and newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser.

CORRECTION: This editorial has been updated to remove an out-of-context quote attributed to David Reilly and to remove an inaccurate statement about Reillys involvement in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

Corrected May 17, 2023

This story was originally published May 17, 2023 11:12 AM.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Idaho Statesmans editorial board. The editorial board is composed of journalists and community members and is separate from the Statesmans newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Statesman editor Chadd Cripe, opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark and newsroom editors Jim Keyser and Dana Oland.

The editorial board meets weekly and sometimes invites subjects to board meetings to interview them personally to gain a better understanding of the topic. Board members also communicate throughout the week via email to discuss issues and provide input on editorials on topics as they are happening in real time. Editorials are intended to be part of an ongoing civil discussion with the ultimate goal of providing solutions to community problems and making this a better place to live, work and play.

Editorials reflect the collective views of the Statesmans editorial board not just the opinion of one writer. An editorial is a collective opinion based on a group discussion among members of the board members. While the editorial is written by one person, typically the opinion editor, it represents the opinions and viewpoints expressed by members of the editorial board after discussion and research on the topic.

Readers are encouraged to express their thoughts by submitting a letter to the editor. Click on Submit a letter or opinion at idahostatesman.com/opinion.

Subscribe to The Idaho Way weekly email newsletter, a collection of editorials, columns, guest opinions and letters to the editor from the Opinion section of the Idaho Statesman each week. You can sign up for The Idaho Way here.

Continued here:
Idaho library election results are in. For the most part, freedom prevailed | Opinion - Idaho Statesman

If you think Democracy Now!s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and fascism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. Today a generous donor will DOUBLE your donation, which means itll go twice as far to support our independent journalism. When Democracy Now! covers war or gun violence, were not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers. When we cover the climate emergency, our reporting isnt sponsored by the oil, gas, coal or nuclear companies. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and thats why were counting on your donation to keep us going. Please give today. Every dollar makes a differencein fact, gets doubled! Thank you so much. -Amy Goodman

If you think Democracy Now!s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and fascism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. Today a generous donor will DOUBLE your donation, which means itll go twice as far to support our independent journalism. When Democracy Now! covers war or gun violence, were not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers. When we cover the climate emergency, our reporting isnt sponsored by the oil, gas, coal or nuclear companies. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and thats why were counting on your donation to keep us going. Please give today. Every dollar makes a differencein fact, gets doubled! Thank you so much. -Amy Goodman

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Montana Becomes First State to Ban TikTok, as Rights Groups Warn of Censorship and Sinophobia - Democracy Now!

Guinean press associations on Thursday accused the ruling junta of censorship, in the face of the restriction or blocking of access to news sites and popular social networks, in a tense context of political protest.

They also denounced a raid carried out on Wednesday by gendarmes at Afric Vision in Conakry and the seizure of the transmitters of two radio stations of the press group.

However, the government has denied any involvement in the internet disruptions and an operation against Afric Vision, media said.

The reported actions coincide with a call to demonstrate launched by the opposition. The junta requisitioned the army deployed in the capital on Wednesday.

Guinean Internet users have been complaining since Wednesday about the difficulty or impossibility of accessing information sites or social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or TikTok without a VPN. The issues have been confirmed by internet monitoring service NetBlocks.

The main press organisations, representing televisions, radios, newspapers, and private information sites, castigated in a press release "the liberticidal actions undertaken by the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority against the Guinean media".

They "condemn this censorship, which is a setback for democracy". They announce their decision to no longer participate in the current week of information and communication professions organized by the government.

The influential Guinea Bloggers Association Ablogui spoke in a separate statement of "backward methods that dishonor Guinea".

Government spokesman and telecommunications minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo denied any involvement by the authorities.

He spoke in front of reporters "about a blackout that is happening everywhere", the Guinenews news site reported. "If the government decides to shut down the internet, it will do so and bear the consequences. However, this is not the case," he said according to Guineanews.

As for Afric Vision, the authorities are waiting for the group to produce elements corroborating its claims, he said. But any media that disturbs the social peace "will be closed without hesitation", he warned.

The opposition had called for demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday. She eventually called off Thursday's protest. Wednesday's appeal was met with little effect in the streets of Conakry, placed under tight control by the army and security forces.

The Forces Vives, a collective of parties and organizations, however, claimed to have paralyzed activity in different sectors of the capital. They accused Colonel Mamady Doumbouya and a number of officials of "murderous madness" and plans to confiscate power.

Guinea has been ruled since 2021 by a junta under the leadership of Colonel Doumbouya. The military agreed under international pressure to make way for elected civilians by the end of 2024, the time to carry out deep reforms, they say.

The junta has arrested a number of opposition leaders and launched legal proceedings against others. It has banned all demonstrations since 2022.

The opposition denounces the authoritarian and exclusive conduct of the country by the junta and calls for the rapid return of civilians.

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Guinea: press associations accuse the junta of censorship - Africanews English