HBO Max HBO Max (Official Thread) (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

It just keeps getting worse...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don’t see this as worse. Just different. The HBO Max division has been burning through cash creating original content that has gone largely unnoticed by the general public. HBO, the cable channel, has plenty of talented executives and creatives who excel at producing original content. Having both “HBO originals” and “HBO Max originals” simultaneously is a lot of redundancy for content that’s ultimately going to the same platform.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Six Max Original movies have now been removed from the service:

The Witches (Zemeckis remake)
Moonshot
An American Pickle
Charm City Kings
Superintelligence
Locked Down

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Six Max Original movies have now been removed from the service:

The Witches (Zemeckis remake)
Moonshot
An American Pickle
Charm City Kings
Superintelligence
Locked Down

I think this, in a nutshell, is why HBO Max is a bad service compared to others like Disney+. Every Disney+ original thus far has remained on D+, and their management has said publicly on more than one occasion that when it comes to D+, there is no “vault” to lock things up in arbitrarily - the content they make for their service lives on that service in perpetuity.

Never mind pre-existing licensing deals and non-HBO content, if HBO Max won’t keep HBO Max original content on its own service, what’s the point?

 

[Todd Erwin]

I think this, in a nutshell, is why HBO Max is a bad service compared to others like Disney+. Every Disney+ original thus far has remained on D+, and their management has said publicly on more than one occasion that when it comes to D+, there is no “vault” to lock things up in arbitrarily - the content they make for their service lives on that service in perpetuity.

Never mind pre-existing licensing deals and non-HBO content, if HBO Max won’t keep HBO Max original content on its own service, what’s the point?

All six movies secretly became available to purchase on services like Vudu yesterday. Coincidence?

 

[jayembee]

I love HBO Max. I think it is the second best streaming service next to Disney+ but, I also do not have to pay for it because it is bundled with my AT&T internet.

The things I want to watch are spread over a number of platforms, so I can't really rank them, though I probably have seen more things on Netflix than any other. But HBOMax has a thumbs-up from me for a lot of what they've put out, from the sublime to the ridiculous (in this case, from Station Eleven to Peacemaker ).

HBOMax was never an issue for us fee-wise. We already subscribed to HBO, so we got HBOMax for no extra charge.

 

[Garysb]

More HBO shows removed from HBO Max. If you subscribe to HBO apparently they are still available On Demand.

HBO Shows Vinyl, Camping and More Removed From HBO Max

HBO Max’s library of HBO shows is getting smaller: A number of the pay cabler’s past series, including the Martin Scorsese-produced rock and roll drama Vinyl and

tvline.com

 

[Todd Erwin]

It's official, coming next summer.

HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine into a single streaming service

The company is considering a free, ad-supported version of the combined streaming platform, Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav said Thursday on an earnings call.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Lord Dalek]

Just a delay of execution. Its still coming.

 

[Sam Favate]

This guy is really going to damage the Warner name. Warner’s had some hard times the past several years, but this guy is doing more damage.

David Zaslav Is HBO Max's Public Enemy #1

New CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav is already making some devastatingly evil creative decisions around the company's films, TV shows, and streaming service HBO Max.

www.pastemagazine.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Warner Bros. has been the gold standard for independent TV production for years. In the name of short-term cost cutting, Discovery is likely putting that long-term success in jeopardy.

There's just no way the economics of scripted programming are going to match the economics of the unscripted programming that is Discovery's bread and butter.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Warner Bros. has been the gold standard for independent TV production for years. In the name of short-term cost cutting, Discovery is likely putting that long-term success in jeopardy.

There's just no way the economics of scripted programming are going to match the economics of the unscripted programming that is Discovery's bread and butter.

I hope this doesn't mean the total end of any cartoon-related DVDs from this company in the future... what would be more upsetting is if they end up having to file for bankruptcy protection like MGM did back in 2010, and the potential loss of rights to certain franchises to help pay back these debts.

~Ben

 

[Garysb]

HBOMAX and Discovery+ streaming services to merge into a single service with a new name in the summer of 2023. Pricing which will include a limited commerical tier and an ad free tier is to be determined. I am afraid those of us that have HBO on cable will loss free access to the new combined streaming service but that has not been announced just what I think will happen. In the meantime some Magnolia programming with be added to HBOMAX and some CNN originals will be added to Discovery+. Stock for Warner Discovery dropped 12% after earnings call yesterday.

Merged HBO Max/Discovery+ Streaming Service Eyed for Summer ’23

Prepare to say goodbye to HBO Max (and Discovery+).

tvline.com

WBD Brass Stress Commitment To HBO Brand As They Mull Name For Combined Streaming Service

Warner Bros. Discovery plans to launch its streaming service that combines the assets of HBO Max and Discovery+ next summer in the U.S., the company said during its quarterly earnings call Thursday…

deadline.com

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Probably should be (much) more concerned about how the merger impacts Warner overall than HBO Max itself.

Personally, I could take it or leave when it comes to HBO Max. I've only kept it for nearly an entire year because of their 1/2 price promo offer (that's set to expire in another month-and-half). Otherwise, I'd probably just subscribe for a couple months each year to binge on a few shows (and whatever handful movies of interest that just happens to be on), if it's anything close to the $15 full price and/or requires ad-support.

Of course, I'd say the same about NetFlix if my family (and mother) didn't like using that so much...


Just when we thought the merger would save Warner from the (prior) disaster that is AT&T...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

The problem I'm seeing here is that Zaslav and his acolytes keep stressing that they are more interested in "unscripted" programming than "scripted". And that's understandable for two reasons: (1) scripted programming costs more money, and (2) Discovery is in charge here, and it's a programmer devoted to unscripted programming. Makes you wonder why they wanted Warner in the first place.

I think what's causing concern is that any merger of their identities will result in a lot of HBOMax's scripted fare going away. Anything that HBO (cable) doesn't want will be gone. This would be corporate suicide. Warner is a giant font of already created scripted fare, and it would be insane to just bury it.

Not everyone loves unscripted programming. If the HBOMax-Discovery+ marriage turns out to be just "DiscoveryMax" and features no (new) scripted programming, they will shed subscribers like skin off a snake.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I could be being overly optimistic about it, obviously, but my take isn’t as drastic as that.

I think one of the problems with the previous regime is that they didn’t really differentiate HBO from HBO Max. If you had HBO via cable, you got HBO Max too. If you only had it via the app, HBO Max had all of the HBO offerings too. The idea of putting the letters “HBO” in tiny font under certain titles on the app to call out that those were movies appearing on the service because of HBO and not HBO Max - what did that actually accomplish?

I feel like whatever the intentions might have been, they wound up in a scenario where HBO Max was producing the same kind of series and films that HBO was producing. Two different divisions of the same company with two different sets of staff each making the same kind of content going to the same destination. What’s the point of that level of redundancy?

So in a way, these moves strike me as getting rid of that redundancy. Let the HBO folks that have been making premium original shows and series and have been great at it for decades, let those folks unambiguously take the lead on continuing to make that kind of content. Discovery has been excelling at unscripted programming for years. Let those folks take the lead on that. No need to have a third team called “Max” doing the same stuff at the same time.

Does anyone care if the logo before a new episode of “Hacks” or “Westworld” says “HBO Max” vs “HBO”? I don’t.

 

[David Weicker]

Its hard to tell what's actually news. There are so many hatchet-job articles. Most of the articles are pure sky-is-falling hyperbole (or they repeat the same 'news' that another article repeated, giving the impression that more is happening than might really be happening).

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I could be being overly optimistic about it, obviously, but my take isn’t as drastic as that.

I think one of the problems with the previous regime is that they didn’t really differentiate HBO from HBO Max. If you had HBO via cable, you got HBO Max too. If you only had it via the app, HBO Max had all of the HBO offerings too. The idea of putting the letters “HBO” in tiny font under certain titles on the app to call out that those were movies appearing on the service because of HBO and not HBO Max - what did that actually accomplish?

I feel like whatever the intentions might have been, they wound up in a scenario where HBO Max was producing the same kind of series and films that HBO was producing. Two different divisions of the same company with two different sets of staff each making the same kind of content going to the same destination. What’s the point of that level of redundancy?

So in a way, these moves strike me as getting rid of that redundancy. Let the HBO folks that have been making premium original shows and series and have been great at it for decades, let those folks unambiguously take the lead on continuing to make that kind of content. Discovery has been excelling at unscripted programming for years. Let those folks take the lead on that. No need to have a third team called “Max” doing the same stuff at the same time.

Does anyone care if the logo before a new episode of “Hacks” or “Westworld” says “HBO Max” vs “HBO”? I don’t.

Wasn't aware of that distinction between HBO and HBO Max. I had assumed they were just one entity (on the backend) creating content for both outlets (cable and streaming)... and I'm not sure most anyone else (on the outside like me) was aware or (should) cared either.

Either way, that doesn't really explain why HBO Max the streaming platform (or whatever it should eventually be called) would/should stop offering scripted programming though, if it's still being made by HBO anyway? That seems backwards.

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Either way, that doesn't really explain why HBO Max the streaming platform (or whatever it should eventually be called) would/should stop offering scripted programming though, if it's still being made by HBO anyway? That seems backwards.

I don’t think it will stop offering scripted content. I think this is far more about reducing internal redundancies and streamlining their process than it is about eliminating scripted. It looks like the business plan will be to put scripted content from HBO and unscripted content from Discovery under one roof - their market research told them that the HBO streaming viewership skewed male with “lean in” habits (people who get very into shows like Game of Thrones and who like to have theories for shows like Westworld - basically people who really engage with their content) while the Discovery streaming viewership skewed female and “lean out” (comfort food viewing, binge watching in the background, etc) - two distinct bases that coexist in a lot of households. Their presentation also discussed that a big goal is to reduce subscriber churn - that is, people like me who sign up for a month or two at a time and then cancel, and repeat the cycle again months or years later. They want to entice - not force - people to keep their subscriptions active by appealing to all groups in a household. To oversimplify: they want a scenario where even if I’m done watching Westworld for the season and might otherwise cancel, they have something that my wife watches regularly so we have reason to keep the subscription active.

This is really about untangling the confused branding and internal divisions that led to there being a service called “HBO Max” that was supplied with content by one internal division called “HBO” and another newly formed one that was called “HBO Max” that were essentially doing the same job twice. A further wrinkle is that “HBO” movies were budgeted more modestly and “HBO Max” movies were budgeted at theatrical price ranges, as part of AT&T’s efforts to lure subscribers with theatrical quality exclusives. New management wants to get back to Warner being a theatrical leader, and doesn’t want to undercut them or waste money by having “HBO Max” making theatrical quality movies direct to streaming.

So what’s going to happen is that the “HBO Max” division will stop making $100 million made for TV movies, but the “HBO” division will continue to make $35 million midbudget TV movies as they always have. Successful “HBO Max” shows like Peacemaker will continue, and “HBO” shows like Westworld aren’t changing. The new service will still be home to all of this stuff, and the streaming home for Warner theatrical films after a normal window has passed, just like now. It’s about undoing AT&T’s attempt to turn HBO and Warner into a new Netflix, that is, a company that didn’t value the theatrical component of the movie lifecycle. AT&T wanted to have content to keep people using the data plans they sold for their cell customers. Discovery wants to enhance its existing base of subscribers with a group of high engagement viewers who are lured by valuable scripted content; Discovery further believes the way to generate that value is to have Warner make first rate theatrical films that people will later want to stream, and that their value comes from being well received in theaters. I don’t think it’s about taking away what is working. I think it’s about cutting their losses on what’s not.

 

[dpippel]