Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: HBO Max plans aggressive crack down on password sharing starting next
month

Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2025 16:43:57 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/stream...

Another major streaming platform is set to crack down on password sharing. JB
Perrette, head of streaming and gaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, just told
investors that HBO Max will begin an "aggressive" messaging campaign about
the practice beginning next month, according to an earnings report.

Beyond stricter messaging, the company is looking to close any and all
loopholes that allow users to share account passwords by the end of the year.
Perette said the company has been testing to determine ΓÇ£whoΓÇÖs a
legitimate user who may not be a legitimate user."

ΓÇ£The message language right now has been a fairly soft, cancelable
message,ΓÇ¥ he said. It will ΓÇ£start to get more fixed and such that people
have to take action as opposed to right now sort of having to be a voluntary
process.ΓÇ¥

The company hopes that these actions will reap financial rewards, with
Perette saying that ΓÇ£the real benefit will start probably in the fourth
quarter and then kick in in 2026.ΓÇ¥ This isn't a desperation move. HBO Max
has actually been doing pretty well, despite consistent name changes, as it
added 3.4 million new subscribers this quarter.

HBO Max is just the latest streamer to put the kibosh on password sharing.
Netflix ended the practice back in 2023 and Disney+ performed its own crack
down on the practice last year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/stream...
crack-down-on-password-sharing-starting-next-month-164357329.html?src=rss

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