Why Did HBO Max Become Max? Behind the Streamer’s Relaunch Strategy

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” That’s the premium cable network slogan that single-handedly changed the television landscape forever and ushered in the Peak TV era. The Home Box Office turned 50 in November 2022, and Variety celebrated its Golden Year by ranking the best performances in its history.

Amid the HBO Max rebrand, Succession is ending after four seasons on the premium cable network. The Roy family is at odds with each other and the drama is set to start at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT on HBO.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor DirecTV announced a multiyear deal to sell the NFL’s Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package to commercial venues in the U.S., starting with the 2023 season. Under the pact with the NFL’s EverPass Media, DirecTV will continue to offer the Sunday football games to customers including casinos, restaurants, bars, hotel lounges and retail shops. The announcement comes after DirecTV lost its 28-year hold on Sunday Ticket for consumers, with Google securing a seven-year deal with the NFL to sell the package via YouTube. The satellite TV operator didn’t announce pricing for Sunday Ticket — which includes all Sunday day games broadcast by CBS and Fox — under the new commercial agreement. In past years, DirecTV’s pricing for the package has been tiered based on fire code occupancy (FCO) rates starting at $650/season for establishments with a certified FCO of 1-100, stepping up to $6,000/season for establishments with capacity of 101-200 and even higher for larger venues.

Now that they’re engaged, we’re looking back on Lauren Sánchez‘s recent interview about her romance with Jeff Bezos in WSJ. Magazine.

Us Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services.

Naman Ramachandran British actor Tobias Menzies, Emmy winner for Netflix’s “The Crown,” will next be seen in A24’s “You Hurt My Feelings,” directed by Nicole Holofcener. In the film, which bowed at Sundance earlier this year, Menzies plays Don, a psychologist whose long-standing happy marriage to author Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is upended when she overhears his honest reaction to her latest book. Menzies says that the initial brief provided by Holofcener was about a key aspect of his character – his insecurities about his looks and ageing. Going into the project, both Menzies and Holofcener, whose credits include comedy-drama films “Walking and Talking” (1996), “Friends with Money” (2006) and “Enough Said” (2013), were already keen to work with each other. The director cast the London-born star after watching “This Way Up,” the BAFTA-winning British television comedy in which he played straight man to stand-up comic Aisling Bea.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s back! MoviePass, after emerging from bankruptcy under new ownership, is launching its movie-theater subscription service nationwide ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. The service lets MoviePass members choose from more than 4,000 theater locations across the U.S., including those operated by AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark. However, the reincarnated MoviePass is a far cry from the too-good-to-be-true $9.95-per-month subscription for one movie per day that the company had offered in its previous life. Plans start at $10/month for 1-3 movies per month, ranging up to $40/month for up to 30. The new MoviePass uses a credit-based system to offer different options for the total amount of films a subscriber can see each month (see plan details below).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeffrey Katzenberg took a massive swing at the streaming biz with Quibi — and despite the startup’s shutdown just six months after it launched, he says he’s still proud of the effort. Katzenberg, an investor, Hollywood producer and former top studio chief, founded Quibi with former eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. The streaming service had positioned itself as the HBO of short-form mobile video and had raised $1.75 billion before it closed its doors in late 2020 after failing to attract subscribers. Katzenberg reflected on Quibi in an interview with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky on the latest episode of the business-focused social network’s “The Path” series. “I’m humbled by the failure,” Katzenberg said. “But I’m proud that what we tried was a moonshot.”

HBO Max and Discovery+ have merged into one streaming platform called, simply, Max. This comes following the announcement in April that the two services would combine.“From the biggest superheroes to real-life champions; from culture-shaping dramas to taste-shaping entertainment; from fantastical realms to the realest of worlds, Max will offer an unrivaled range of choice,” said JB Perrette the President & CEO of Global Streaming & Games at Warner Bros.

Selome Hailu After more than a year of fanfare caused by the 2022 merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, David Zaslav’s WBD has finally launched Max. Branded as “the one to watch,” the new streaming service combines the offerings of HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform. In April, WBD held an event announcing the name, launch date, ethos and next steps of the brand. Along with unveiling flashy (and controversial) plans like a new “Harry Potter” series, company execs also explained the decision to drop the prestigious HBO name from the title of the service: In short, they want to be clear that the acclaimed but certainly adult-leaning programming HBO is famous for is only a portion of the content available on Max.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s the big launch day for Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max — and the newly revamped streaming service appears to encountering some technical problems right off the bat. On Wednesday morning, subscribers took to social media to complain that they were having logging in to Max, which is replacing the three-year-old HBO Max service. As reported by users, the issues spanned the Max.com website as well as mobile apps including iOS and connected-TV apps on Roku and Samsung TV. Of course, there are bound to be some problems in migrating millions of customers over to a new streaming platform. A Warner Bros. Discovery rep declined to specify how widespread the issues that users are encountering may be. The May 23 conversion from HBO Max to Max covers only the U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s bulked-up and revamped streaming service that takes the place of HBO Max, makes it U.S. debut on Wednesday (May 23). Max makes several subtle enhancements aimed at making the service easier to use and more engaging — while execs say it should also be more stable than HBO Max. According to the company, a “large portion” of HBO Max subscribers will have their apps automatically updated to Max — while in some cases, users will be prompted to download an updated Max app. If all goes as planned, HBO Max subscribers will have their previous plan (including their username, password and billing information), profiles, avatars, and settings including “Continue Watching” and “My List” items migrated over to the new Max.

Scroll To See More Images

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok says Montana’s newly enacted law that would criminalize usage of the short-form video app is unconstitutional — and the app company has taken legal action to fight the state’s ban. TikTok filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana seeking to have the law reversed. It was signed into law last week by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who said it would “protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a China-based internet conglomerate. “We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana,” the app maker said in a statement. “We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With HBO Max turning into Max, Warner Bros. Discovery is introducing a higher-priced plan — $19.99 per month — with an expanded bouquet of 4K Ultra HD content aimed at pushing customers to the pricier package. On Monday, the company announced that the 4K tier will feature more than 1,000 films and episodes in 4K UHD, an increase of nearly eightfold over what has been available in HBO Max. The 4K UHD content on Max will include “Game of Thrones,” “The Last of Us,” the Harry Potter films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight trilogy, the Matrix films and more. Additionally, all Warner Bros. movies released this year and going forward will be available in 4K UHD when they arrive on Max following their theatrical windows.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor On Tuesday, May 23, HBO Max is going away — when it will be reskinned as Max, stocked with more than twice the total amount of programming. Max’s expanded streaming menu includes the addition of hundreds of episodes of Discovery+ shows, and it’s set to get dozens of new TV shows and movies over the next month. The new Max will feature 35,000 hours of programming, more than double what has been available on HBO Max. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, the service will be continuously updated with fresh content, averaging more than 40 new movie titles and TV seasons per month. SEE ALSO: What Max Launch Means for Existing HBO Max Customers

Gigi Hadid and Irina Shayk had heads turning at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival this weekend!

Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd left fans emotional as he posted a sweet snap of a special behind-the-scenes tribute to two of the soap's legends. The actor, who is known for playing David Platt, shared a snap online alongside his co-star Julia Goulding.

Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd left fans feeling emotional as he revealed a special behind-the-scenes tribute to two of the soap's icons. The actor, who is famed for playing David Platt in the ITV soap, shared a video to his Instagram which showed himself and his co-star Julia Goulding.

Scroll To See More Images