Max first confirmed that it will launch a password crackdown along with Disney Plus and Netflix in March 2024, but now JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming & Gaming at WBD, said Max (h/t The Wrap) said it will begin warning subscribers about the crackdown next week.

“We'll start very early, gentle messaging in literally a week or so,” Perrette said at Tuesday's conference. We're launching the initial messaging to people who we think are definitely in the high-utilization demographic.”

If you still owe a friend or relative an account to watch some of the best Max shows, you may need to start planning to include another streamer in your budget soon.

Earlier this year, we heard that Max's password sharing solution would be similar to Netflix and other streamers who have clamped down on account sharing, but Perrett's comments indicate that Max's changes are indeed “extra member” of Netflix's account or the recent Disney Plus password sharing solution, which does not appear to be very similar.

Perrett states that Max will offer a way to “essentially add members” to your plan in the first quarter of 2025. However, the change is likely to be gradual as streamers figure out which users are genuinely sharing accounts or just temporarily using their Max membership elsewhere.

“Then gradually ...... as data is retrieved. Using some explicit and implicit signals ...... We start to figure out how good we are at detection,” adds Perrett.

“And as we get to ‘25, you'll see the filters getting tighter and tighter, and as we get into late ’25 and ‘26, they'll get tighter and tighter, and as we get into ’26, you'll see the filters getting tighter and tighter.

The price of these additional Max member accounts is unknown, but to make the system worthwhile, adding another user to a Max plan is likely to be cheaper than paying for two separate plans altogether. It is also not entirely clear at the time of this writing how this crackdown will affect Discovery Plus users, but we will keep a close eye on it as the latest information becomes available.