Warner Bros. Discovery announced today that it will no longer pursue plans to launch a separate sports tier for its Max streaming service. The announcement comes weeks after the studio scuttled its plans to launch the Venu sports streaming service with Fox and Disney, ending the controversial proposal that spawned criticisms of monopolistic practices and a lawsuit from DirecTV.
It also comes as the company reorganizes, with the expectation that it will split off its legacy U.S. cable networks from its streaming Max service and the studio business this year.
"Over the last year plus, we had the opportunity to assess how users engage with sports and news on Max, and we’ve been actively involved in exploring ways to evolve the sports distribution ecosystem in the U.S. We believe that the best place for that content for now is within the Standard and Premium tiers," said JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games, WBD. "This update ensures that subscribers can continue to enjoy that coveted access within Max, while also enabling ongoing investment in our premium sports and news portfolio."
Beginning on March 30, B/R Sports and CNN Max will no longer be available on the Basic with Ads tier.
B/R Sports on Max boasts more than 1,700 live games and events each year from the NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR and tennis's French Open, among others. Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT channel, which has broadcast NBA games for decades, will lose their contract with the league at the end of the 2024-2025 season.
