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Everything old is new again. What goes around comes around. Time is a flat circle. And Max is now, once again, HBO Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of the streaming service known for HBO content, all 10 seasons of “Friends” and winning Jean Smart Emmy awards, announced May 14 that the service is partying like it’s 2023 and reverting from the moniker “Max” back to its original name: HBO Max.
In a presentation to advertisers in New York, the company described the shift, happening this summer, as meeting consumer needs. WBD president and CEO of streaming JB Perrette said, “No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers today say they want better content.” The name change represents the streamer’s newfound goal of curating quality content, presumably akin to HBO shows such as current hit “The Last of Us,” rather than being everything to everyone.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a news release, “We are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media.”
Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, said at the presentation, “My team is well aware of what the HBO brand means to the industry and our consumers.” The company wants to “elevate the name again. … I know you’re all shocked. The good thing is I still have stationery.”
The name reversion is a hard left turn from the company’s stance just two years ago in April 2023, when the name of the service was changed from HBO Max to Max. Fresh off a merger between Warner Bros. (owner of the eponymous movie studio, HBO, HBO Max, TNT and others) and Discovery (owner of cable channels like HGTV, Food Network, TLC and streamer Discovery+), the message of the day was “more is more.”
At the time, CEO Zaslav called combining Discovery+ and HBO Max to make Max “our rendezvous with destiny,” and described it as a place for “every member of the household to go to see whatever they want at any given time.”
Now, “we will continue to focus on what makes us unique – not everything for everyone in a household, but something distinct and great for adults and families,” streaming president Perette says.
The new HBO Max will be somewhat more select, with a news release stating the brand will focus on programming like “HBO, recent box-office movies, docuseries, certain reality series, and Max and local originals” and it will be “de-prioritizing other genres that drive less engagement or acquisition.”
What’s coming soon on HBO and HBO Max
The advertising presentation also previewed upcoming content on HBO and the newly re-dubbed HBO Max. In September, “Task,” starring Mark Ruffalo, is expected on HBO, a crime drama about an FBI agent investigating drug robberies in suburban Philadelphia. Other upcoming series include “The Chair Company” featuring Tim Robinson and “It: Welcome to Derry,” a prequel series to the Stephen King horror films about the origins of villain Pennywise.
The next “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” will premiere in winter 2026, according to Bloys, who says it will have a “more intimate scope and quirky tone” than current series “House of the Dragon.” It is based on novellas by “Thrones” author George R.R. Martin.
Contributing: Gary Levin
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