Rumor: HBO Max may be folding into Discovery+

[humminbird]

this gives me an idea for a thread

 

[GrudgeBooty]

it has very little brand to it now, it's like wandering a decent used book store, that's sort of curated, and seeing some ok stuff, but nothing that stands out.

The old HBO Max felt like a fairly well branded boutique, it didn't have the most, but it had the best

a lot of the movies are just C list stuff, which sometimes is fun to watch, come hone late night and check out some dumb movie, but you need the quality to balance it out.

Wowie! That's the exact comparison I've been looking for but could never find all along! Re'up, I hope you always stay up cuz you just gave me that mental orgasm

 

[pete clemenza]

HBO Max needs an overhaul. It used to be like the luxury bar at the 4 Seaonsn not it feels like some weird dive bar with a few people slumming it.

They need to reverse the merger, what a mess. I think Zslav's scheme will maybe not work. Streaming has taken a big hit since the 2022, and the strike pushed that further.

it was never about HBO and Discovery having any sense of synergy, it was just a cynical ploy to cut costs and boost the share price.

They've had about ten overhauls and rebrands over the past three years. Y'all don't remember HBO Go & HBO Now

 

[mastermind]

They've had about ten overhauls and rebrands over the past three years. Y'all don't remember HBO Go & HBO Now

HBOGo wasn't a streaming app

HBONow was, but they didn't know what they were doing.

I think these companies don't know what to do with streaming lol

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

HBOGo wasn't a streaming app

HBONow was, but they didn't know what they were doing.

I think these companies don't know what to do with streaming lol

Wym? That's how I used to stream all the older stuff like Sopranos, The Wire, and any current stuff like The Deuce (at the time)

 

[re'up]

Opinion | The Era of Prestige TV Is Ending. We’re Going to Miss It When It’s Gone.

The 2023 Emmys were meant to be a celebration of television’s best. Instead, they’ll serve as a funeral for the era dominated by landmark shows.

www.nytimes.com

I left Amazon Studios in 2017 (after accusations I dispute), and five years later, the larger industry picture looks exceedingly bleak. In the last year nearly every major studio, from Warner Bros. to Paramount, has announced layoffs and write-offs. The legacy broadcast business, which was for decades the industry’s bread and butter, now, in the Disney chief executive Bob Iger’s ominous phrase, “may not be core.” HBO, long the standard-bearer for TV excellence, had its name unceremoniously scrubbed when the streaming service HBO Max became simply Max. Streaming, that sexy business model that the entire industry fell for, is turning out to be very expensive and not nearly as much fun as was imagined. Disney+ has lost subscribers for two consecutive quarters. Amazon was plagued by reports that its big investment in a “Lord of the Rings” series yielded disappointing viewership numbers. Over it all, the specter of A.I. looms like a dementor at the window of a party. When people do get back to work, they’ll be looking for safe, surefire hits.

 

[mastermind]

Wym? That's how I used to stream all the older stuff like Sopranos, The Wire, and any current stuff like The Deuce (at the time)

It was more of an On Demand app. You could watch HBOgo on your cable platform.

 

[re'up]

If you’re in Hollywood, don’t bother pitching the next “Billions,” “Succession,” “Downton Abbey” or “Mad Men” — that’s considered too 1 percent. The next “Transparent” or “Atlanta”? Too small. And forget about the next “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or “Entourage.” That kind of comedy is far too niche for today’s marketplace. Edgy is out. Mass is in.

The problem with this move toward more broadly appealing programming — what some have called “CBS-ification” — is that mass-appeal shows aren’t what inspired millions of people to subscribe to these services in the first place. In fact, mass appeal shows may have the opposite effect: For 30 years, viewers have been taught that expensive prestige shows like “Game of Thrones” are what you pay for and shows like “Wheel of Fortune” are what you get on broadcast for free. If Netflix added, say, 5,000 hours of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Days of Our Lives” to its platform, it would likely increase total viewing hours, but it could erode the notion that the service is worth paying for in the first place. Yet many streaming services are raising their prices right now, in part to drive subscribers to cheaper, ad-supported tiers that promise additional advertising revenue.

 

[levitate]

Yall tripping, Max is our favorite streaming service now.

Movies, TV Shows (including AMC for a limited time), House Hunters, live sports soon…

!