Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Ugh. That's like if one of the other streaming services renamed themselves to "Plus."

It also seems like it could cause confusion with the DMAX (Discovery Max) channel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMAX_(Spanish_TV_channel)

Keeping the name HBO Max and just adding Discovery content too it seems like the smartest move, but I guess that the new heads that came from Discovery didn't want to admit HBO had better branding than Discovery. Outside of that though, I'm not sure what a good name would be. Maybe go outside the box like NBC Universal did with the Peacock name?

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

As long as the Hubs(DC, TCM, etc.)stay and the price doesn't take a crazy hike im in.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I think it telling that they want to drop the well-known HBO branding.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

I still think Peacock is a dumb name. At this point if you're confused about what HBO Max is, changing the name to just Max isn't going to help you.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

It looks like HBO Max is again available as an Amazon Prime Channel (with a 7 day trial).

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm guessing that since they're dropping the HBO from the name, people who already subscribe to HBO via cable won't also get Max with no additional fee.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Westworld and The Nevers will be pulled from HBO Max

Twitter

Sorry for those who were hoping to binge them "one day" :shrug:

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

No wonder they want to change the name. Not for synergy or confusion or whatever excuse they gave, it's so that they don't have to carry the full HBO catalog so they can sell it to other services. Where's that Lando gif?

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

That's insane. Westworld was a very high-profile show for them and just ended a few months ago.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Westworld cost a shitload of money to produce. The view count probably doesn't equate to enough and they'd be better off licensing the streaming rights.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...233f136295.png

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Max.

So you jettison the part of your name you took decades to build into a trusted brand?

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Love Life and Minx are also being pulled.

From article



That really sucks for Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy and the rest of the cast and crew of Westworld. They really poured their heart and soul into that show for the last 6+ years and it was once a hit for them and now they won't get paid anymore for any prospective viewer just discovering it for the 1st. HBO also sabotaged The Nevers. Season 1, Part 2 hasn't even aired yet.

There's so many fucking shows online now that people nowadays just can't keep up with everything as it originally airs. If they can license it out to a competitor like Hulu or Netflix then great. Yes I know HBO WBD is bleeding money and needs to cut costs.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

I've watched neither but both are HBO Max originals, right? This is the first time I remember seeing actual HBO channel content removed.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

It's not. Vinyl and Mrs. Fletcher were previously removed. Something else as well.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Now that the "HBO" will eventually be dropped for just "Max" I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of older shows or ones with low view counts get licensed out or just pulled all together.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Oh, you're right, 6 (no, 7) shows were removed when the merger first happened:
Vinyl
Camping
Mrs. Fletcher
Run
Here and Now
K Street (which is not about Korean pop groups, apparently)
At Home with Amy Sedaris

So I should say Westworld is the first one I was actually aware of and watched. :)

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

It's a shame. Mrs. Fletcher was actually pretty good. And Vinyl was ... also a show on HBO.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Ha, that's probably exactly what I would say for Westworld season 1... then all of the other Westworld seasons.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm in the minority here, but I thought Westworld S2 was also pretty good (though way lesser than S1), and the first six episodes of S4 were not bad.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

I think it started off pretty good, then just went... places. Unfortunately I never got to S4 (and probably won't unless Netflix wins the bidding war or whatever)

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

I know you're super slow keeping up with shows, but Westworld was a high quality A-list show. Sorry you'll never get a chance to see the rest. The final season was actually really good.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Ha, in a weird way there's actually more of a priority to watch this before it leaves where there was no priority before, but I don't think I have enough time. Glad to hear that the last season was good; I realize the premise in season 1 couldn't last but I felt like it did lose something in season 2 and season 3 didn't pick it back up for me enough to stick with, but maybe someday (which is what I say about my massive streaming/blu-ray/videogame backlog).

On a side note,since we're talking about HBO Max content and stuff could be leaving any day now (half joking) is the second season of Raised By Wolves worth watching despite there being no ending? :)

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

Does this mean we'll never see the back half of The Nevers? I doubt the showrunner can shop the show to other services since it's an "Original".

Taken to its logical conclusion, that back catalog titles have less marginal revenue (however measured) than residuals to pay, which is probably almost all back catalog titles at every streaming service because unlike syndicated reruns they don't generate a fresh stream of royalties, HBO Max should have no back catalog whatsoever. Only new shows, and once their first run is over cancel them after a short time for a tax write-off and suspension of residual payments. Yay, we can be back to the glory days of television pre-home-video, when it was basically impossible to watch a show after the end of its run.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm curious if the back catalog is really not that important to people, or if this is the start of a huge misstep by WB. We've paid for HBO Max since it launched, but if this is the route they're going, we'll be dropping it. We can just do a one-off month once or twice a year to binge the latest seasons of the shows we care about. A huge part of the appeal of maintaining a subscription is being able to revisit series we love or watch older shows that we missed the first time around.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Zaslav is just cutting costs any way he can at the moment, which includes cutting off residuals and selling off series. Whether that's to somehow resell WB is still up for debate but I don't think he cares that much about the content side, at least the content that doesn't come from his Discovery stuff.

I do wonder how long the Ghibli contract runs...

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

There's word that they're interested in running a Free ad-supported television (FAST) service like Freevee and Pluto TV with The Nevers likely to land on that.

A lot of the Discovery trash would do well on there, especially the TLC stuff, but they're suggesting some of the programs pulled from HBO Max will show up on there.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

If true then it's exactly as I suspected: for internal accounting purposes they assign their back catalog $0 revenue per subscriber, or close to it. In that model your back catalog makes no sense to carry on your paid service since it cannot pay for itself, so you move it somewhere it can earn new money.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm seriously regretting renewing last June for the Ad-free experience, again, at full price (no discount). I'm getting much more value currently on Hulu and went ads on that one.

Will be reversing this in 2023. Besides the DC series we watch religiously, our queue is awfully tiny compared to Hulu.

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I'm still slogging through Westworld S3. Will be in no hurry to watch S4 wherever it lands despite hearing it's an improvement.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Where will WW land? Are other HBO shows like The Sopranos and Oz going to leave too?

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

I suppose if Netflix or Hulu really want Westworld, they could cough up the money to pay the licensing fee. But, then again, the streaming numbers for seasons 1-4 must have really sucked if WBD wants to get rid of it and avoid paying after market residuals. Other services will have to consider that as well. If no one was watching it on HBO Max, why should we pay $$$$ to add it to ours if no one was watching? I mean it sucks for creators as I said previously and I know people want streaming services to keep all their content, but if the numbers were bad?

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

This could really blow.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

There's a hold at WB on selling to Netflix right now as well. I don't know what they're doing.

Westworld was rumored for whatever free TV thing they do since it's in-house but who knows. Zaslav is wiping his ass with this brand.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Do those free (with commercials) tv things include a lot of more adult fare (ie nudity) like Westworld, though? Asking for a friend...

re: Max — Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service
 

WB doesn’t have a free streaming counterpart. But some of their shows do stream free with ads on The Roku Channel.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

Not yet, but I can see them starting one and move all but their most-viewed back catalog there.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

To an extent, stuff like Sex Pot and Zack and Miri air on Pluto TV.

Not quite as much nudity as Westworld but they don't necessarily shy from it

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Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

It may not just be about streaming numbers compared to residuals, it's what they think others will pay for it. I do think psychologically when you have a back catalog that people think won't go anywhere, the urgency to watch it goes down particularly if there's no new content being made for it. People get complacent and think it'll always be there so it's not a draw. But removing it for a while and then having it resurface on a different service might still draw traffic to it so it might be a worthwhile get for another streaming service.

I mean it sucks for the consumer but I can kind of understand the thinking here, I just figured something like Westworld is high profile enough and tied to their brand that they wouldn't touch it. But I guess that's why they're renaming it too, so they don't feel compelled to keep all the HBO content.

Re: HBO Max — Warnermedia streaming service
 

I started watching S1 a few months ago but other newer stuff got in the way. I guess I might just buy the blu-ray for S1.