Discovery+ is now more expensive in the immediate aftermath of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery joining to form Skydance. The streaming service’s ad-supported tier has risen by $1 to $7 per month, while its ad-free tier has increased by $2 to $12 per month.

The new prices took effect Tuesday for new members. Current subscribers have been given 30 days’ notice, with the higher charge applying to their first bill on or after November 12. The previous Discovery+ price increase arrived in January 2025, making this another relatively quick change for viewers who have kept the service through the company’s evolving streaming plans.

What Discovery+ subscribers will pay

On a monthly basis, the increases are straightforward: one additional dollar for the plan with advertising and two additional dollars for the ad-free plan. Over a full year, however, the distinction is clearer.

  • Ad-supported Discovery+: $7 per month, or $84 over 12 months.
  • Ad-free Discovery+: $12 per month, or $144 over 12 months.

Before this change, those same annualized totals would have been $72 and $120 respectively. That means the annual difference is $12 for the lower-priced plan and $24 for the ad-free option, assuming a subscriber remains enrolled for all 12 months at the stated monthly rate.

“Ad-supported” means advertising is included as part of the viewing experience in exchange for a lower monthly price. “Ad-free” describes the higher-priced option without those ads. The available information establishes the price changes, but does not detail any accompanying changes to features, programming, video quality or plan conditions. Subscribers should therefore avoid assuming that the increase itself brings a newly announced benefit.

Timing matters: the increase follows the formation of Skydance

The price change lands one week after Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially merged into Skydance. It is difficult to separate a subscription adjustment from that much larger corporate shift, particularly because Skydance has already indicated that it intends to combine its other principal streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max, into a single offering.

That statement is important, but it should not be overstated. A combined Paramount+ and HBO Max offering has been signaled; the supplied details do not establish a timetable, a price, a finalized brand, or the precise role Discovery+ will have in that product. Discovery+ has not been confirmed as part of a unified service.

One possible approach would be to incorporate Discovery+ into a larger platform with distinct destinations for each brand, similar to the tiled or channel-like presentation used for multiple brands on Disney+. That is a plausible model rather than a confirmed product plan. For now, Discovery+ remains its own service and has raised the cost of each of its stated monthly tiers.

What current members should watch for

The most practical date for existing subscribers is not necessarily the day the price was announced or began for new sign-ups. It is their first billing date on or after November 12. The 30-day notice means an account holder’s individual renewal schedule determines when the new amount actually appears.

For households balancing several digital subscriptions, that difference is worth checking. A $1 or $2 monthly increase can look minor in isolation, but recurring services stack up—particularly when a company’s broader direction could later change where programming lives or how services are packaged.

Subscribers who specifically value Discovery+ can assess the decision in simple terms: whether the service’s lineup is worth $84 a year with ads or $144 a year without them, based on their own viewing habits. Those who also use Paramount+ or HBO Max face a different uncertainty: Skydance’s stated intention to consolidate those two services may eventually reshape the choices available across its streaming portfolio, but no complete bundle structure has been set out here.

Debt and consolidation are the bigger business backdrop

The merger also comes with substantial financial pressure. Skydance has taken on $80 billion in debt, and the company is expected to pursue cost-cutting measures while dealing with that obligation. In this context, a streaming price rise is not simply a standalone consumer-facing change. It fits into a wider period in which the newly combined company is likely looking for ways to increase revenue and reduce costs.

That does not prove the exact form of every future decision. More price increases are described as likely, but they are not confirmed with amounts or dates. Likewise, cost-cutting can cover many possible actions; the available information does not identify specific shows, teams, products or customer features that could be affected.

The useful distinction is between what has happened and what remains unresolved. Confirmed: Discovery+ now costs $7 with ads or $12 ad-free for new subscribers, and existing customers move to the new prices with notice on their first bill on or after November 12. Signaled: Paramount+ and HBO Max are intended to become one offering. Unconfirmed: Discovery+’s long-term place in that strategy, the eventual combined service’s structure, and the timing of any further changes.

Streaming consolidation could affect where viewers keep accounts

Consolidation is particularly significant because it can change more than a logo on an app. A unified service can potentially alter billing, account management, content navigation and the number of separate subscriptions a household maintains. It can also create fresh questions about which tier includes which brands and whether advertising rules differ between them.

None of those details have been announced for the Skydance plan, so it is too early to present them as outcomes. Still, the Discovery+ increase offers a concrete reminder that subscribers are making choices in a moving market, not a fixed set of products. A service that is independent today may be packaged differently later.

Entertainment streaming is also competitive beyond this corporate group. For an example of how platform decisions continue to shape television availability and projects, see the news that The X-Files reboot has received a Hulu series order. The key point for Discovery+ users is narrower: their current service is staying active, but it now costs more while its corporate parent maps out a potentially larger streaming reorganization.

No immediate unified replacement has been announced

For the moment, there is no indication that a Discovery+ customer should expect an automatic move to a merged Paramount+ and HBO Max platform. Nor is there a stated migration process, bundled rate or deadline for Discovery+ itself. The service’s immediate reality is the new two-tier pricing, with the notice period protecting current members from an instant surprise charge.

That leaves subscribers with a familiar but increasingly consequential decision: continue at the new rate for the specific service they use today, or reconsider their mix of subscriptions while waiting for firmer information about Skydance’s eventual streaming structure. The confirmed numbers are $7 and $12 per month. Nearly everything about the broader consolidation remains a plan to watch rather than a product viewers can evaluate today.