HBO Max has a big task ahead:
The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service will unite with Discovery+ in the near future, leading to a new name.
The combined service is set to drop the “HBO” and become known as Max.
It’s not a groundbreaking name, and one would think that dropping the “HBO” from the title would make people think that it was getting rid of HBO-branded content.
There’s a certain level of prestige that comes with HBO offerings.
They deliver strong ratings, earn good reviews, and dominate at major awards show.
Then again, maybe the service wants to have a name that reflects how many offerings it will have overall, and if we’re going with “Max,” there’s plenty of content under the Warner Bros. Discovery roster.
The tricky part of revamping is that the streaming market has become oversaturated in recent years because there are too many offerings.
At one point, there was no ceiling for these services as people nixed their cable subscriptions in their droves.
Nowadays, the market is in a completely different position, and many services are struggling to attract new subscribers.
HBO Max faces an uphill battle here. The new name might be confusing, and Warner Bros. Discovery is coming off some intense scrutiny for killing several projects that had completed production.
As for the price, Bloomberg reports that the plan is to keep the advertising-supported tier of the new service at its current price of $10, while the ad-free premium version will cost $15-$16 per month.
The company also plans to sell a new subscription that offers consumers higher video quality and additional features for around $20 per month.
It’s hard to imagine which additional features could comprise that more expensive plan, but time will tell.
For now, we’re wondering whether we’ll be watching Succession and be presented with a recommendation for 90 Day Fiance or Dr. Pimple Popper after we finish streaming an episode.
What are your thoughts on the planned name and cost of the merged service?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
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