HBO Max’s password-sharing crackdown is going global

[Karlston]

Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service has more subscribers to squeeze following its international expansion.

Image: The Verge

 

HBO Max’s password-sharing crackdown is going to get a lot bigger. During an earnings call on Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery streaming head JB Perrette said a global expansion “will start in 2026,” as reported earlier by The Wrap.

 

Warner Bros. Discovery has ramped up its paid sharing initiative in the US over the past year, introducing “more aggressive” prompts in August that push people toward paying an extra $7.99 per month to add another user to their account. Now that HBO Max has launched in several European countries and Latin America, with rollouts planned in the UK, Ireland, and the Asia-Pacific, the streamer likely sees more opportunities to squeeze international subscribers sharing their memberships.

 

“We are in the second inning of our password sharing enforcement,” Perrette said during the call. “It is just beginning to get scale.” HBO Max added 3.5 million subscribers across the globe during the last quarter of 2025, bringing its total to 131.6 million. Warner Bros. Discovery says it expects to reach 150 million subscribers by the end of this year.

 

In December, Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to a $83 billion deal to sell its studio and streaming service to Netflix, though it has since reopened negotiations with Paramount, which doesn’t seem to be taking “no” for an answer.

 

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Posted Friday 27 February 2026 at 6:08 am AEST (my time).

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