If you love HBO Max like us, you’ve probably been under a lot of stress. This week has been a nightmare situation The merger of HBO Max and Discovery Plus. But today (Thursday, August 4) at the Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q2 Earnings Call gave us reason to be optimistic.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated following the Earnings Call.
Yes, in case you haven’t heard, Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T, which led to rumors of a new Warner Bros. The name Discovery meant that we would get one service that would combine these two services. Or so we thought.
HBO Max has landed a prominent spot in Warner Bros. In Discovery’s second quarter earnings call
After WBD CEO and President David Zaslav talked about combining the “rich legacies of Warner Bros. and Discovery into one company,” he reiterated the intention to “merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one offering.” But the bigger moments came from JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games.
While Zaslav Perrette both explained that we’ll have to wait until the Investor Day event planned for later in the year, Perrette and his slides pushed HBO Max a lot harder than you might expect, given concerns that HBO Max would be reduced to nothing. HBO.
The global product slide featured large logos of HBO Max and Discovery Plus with bullets announcing that they would work with “one global brand.” Interestingly, the service will have On demand & live capabilities as well as Ad-free, Ad-lite and Ads only. There will be several tiers that will apparently complement the sport.
One executive later said he would “double down” on HBO, another reason to believe HBO Max has a strong future ahead of it.
The next slide then showed WBD’s schedule for both services, explaining that the US will receive the service for the first time in 2023. in the summer It will debut in Latin America that fall, and in Europe in 2024. in early 2023, and in the Asia-Pacific markets – in 2023. in 2024
All of the prominent HBO Max branding throughout this launch suggests that the HBO Max brand and service will remain with this new service — even if it’s Discovery Plus-branded.
An explanation of HBO Max’s concerns
So why did we bother with HBO Max (which we think is the best streaming service)? In the middle of the chaos on Tuesday (August 2), Su HBO Max’s ‘Batgirl’ Canceled after Warner put in $90 million six original HBO Max movies have disappeared from the servicethe other shoe began to drop.
Tony Maglio at IndieWire (opens in a new tab) Then it was announced that there would be even more cuts, and it’s all because they want to keep costs down as they combine HBO Max and Discovery Plus.. The question is, of course how are they going to merge the two services?
Then Wednesday afternoon Wrapping (opens in a new tab) A shocking new report has dropped, saying that “HBO Max’s expansion is expected to be hit particularly hard by layoffs from two sources, resulting in a 70 percent reduction in creative staff.” An insider told The Wrap that HBO’s “employees are ‘all moving out'” and that “all I know is that they’re turning HBO Max into HBO and there will be layoffs.”
Some of these may still happen, but we have less confidence in this report than ever.
Before that, we only heard a rumor from Beyond The Trailer YouTuber Grace Randolph. Randolph is credited as some owners (opens in a new tab)till James Gunn (opens in a new tab) to put it politely, you don’t seem to trust her. And her rumor now seems truer than ever.
A nightmare scenario for HBO Max fans
Before Thursday’s (Aug. 4) Warner Bros. Discovery’s second quarter earnings Randolph wrote on Twitter (opens in a new tab) list of ideas that were RUMOR re the #WBD presentation. None of these ideas were presented.
Randolph claimed that HBO Max will become part of Discovery Plus “probably as a #HBO tab” and that the new service will “abandon scripted #HBOMax with a general streaming focus on non-scripted.”
This would essentially force loyal HBO Max subscribers to buy a new (probably more expensive) streaming service so they can continue to access the shows and movies they love, while potentially getting less of the content they prefer.
And that’s not even talking about where HBO Max’s licensed content — seasons of Friends, Studio Ghibli movies, and more — will end up. In that new HBO tab? Given the strength of HBO Max’s branding on WBD, it seems like a moniker for such a tab.
HBO Max becomes a division of the new program?
What would be next? The Wrap quotes a Hollywood agent with knowledge of the plans as saying, “HBO is very safe. If this was Game of Thrones, Casey Bloys would win.”
Yes, HBO Max just reinvested in the man behind its content: Casey Bloys, HBO and HBO Max’s chief content officer. A Diversity (opens in a new tab) in 2022 July. The report states that Bloys has signed a new five-year contract with Warner Bros. Discovery”. But just think like a cost-cutting executive and look at the titles it splits. Why did it run both HBO and HBO Max content when it could have just run one?
So it looks like Bloys is back in charge of one team with what is likely to be a smaller budget. WBD has canceled a number of scripted programs, including TNT SnowpiercerTBS’ The last OG and HBO Max’s Made for Love.
As Bloys has said publicly, some HBO Max shows may remain under the HBO brand Flight attendant season 3 definitely possible. Hopefully Peacemaker, Harley Quinn, Our Flag Means Death and Hacks will be among the remaining shows.
After the launch, it’s more likely that the HBO Max brand still has value.
Outlook: What’s Next
The big question that Warner Bros. is probably playing with. Discovery executives, is “which streaming service is more important?” Now that Warner Bros. Discovery delivered its second quarter, giving the impression that it has a high regard for both streaming services.
Comparing HBO Max and Discovery Plus is, of course, like comparing apples and pineapples. The former consists mostly of scripted programming, while the latter is mostly unscripted content.
After all, it’s a Discovery company now. And it’s hard to imagine them wanting to turn their service into a tab in someone else’s app. Also, we’d much rather see a Discovery Plus hub in HBO Max than an HBO tab in the Discovery Plus app. HBO Max seems like a brand where Discovery could fit in, right?
As we knew, one new streaming service will be launched, which will include both Discovery Plus and HBO Max. Which side “wins” will be up for debate, but for now, HBO Max appears to be a brand with a future. But it’s all optics. More important is how much this new service costs (a price hike seems inevitable).
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