Combined HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service launching earlier than expected

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) recently announced plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into one streaming service set to debut in the summer of 2023. Now in the company's latest earnings call, WBD President and CEO David Zaslav said the combined service will arrive in the US earlier than expected in spring of 2023.

The streaming services combined now have 94.9 million subscribers, with the large majority of those from HBO and HBO Max, according to Fierce Wireless. That includes 2.8 million new subscribers, with most of those (2.3 million) coming from overseas markets.

Along with the combined streaming service, WBD plans to launch its own free ad-support streaming TV service (FAST) in 2023. "As the company with the largest TV and film library in the industry... that allows us to distribute our content in multiple ways," said Zaslav. The company also said its investing in content at historic levels, citing the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-chairmen and CEOs of DC studios.

It's still not clear what form the combined streaming service will take or what it will be called. However, WBD recently started transferring Discovery+ content to HBO Max like Fixer Upper: The Castle, and it's became a top five show in just a few days, Zaslav said.