Max is Going to Be HBO Max Again

[Michael Scrip]

What we need is one subscription where we can view all video content, regardless of studio or producer. Like Apple Music.

Every brand could have a channel where you can view their top shows. Viewers can zap between those live channels, record shows and watch stuff on demand.

Oh wait….

We had that. It was called Cable TV.

And it was $80 a month... every month.

Do you want 200 channels? No? Well too bad. You're paying for them. All of them.

Oh and you get ads. A LOT of ads. With no option to not get ads.

Guess what... people complained about Cable TV. It wasn't all roses.

 

[ScubaCinci]

I'm happy that when they originally decided the first 3 letters of their name, Peacock didn't follow suit.

 

[iMac The Knife]

I knew they would walk this one back. Talk about a stupid decision from clueless executives! If people only knew the power we wield in large numbers, we could rollback all sorts of stupid decisions, and price increases (more importantly).

 

[Scotty_Trees]

Out "modern" timeline is so freaking s t u p i d....I've always called it HBO and I'll always call it Twitter. P.S. Stop freaking using Twitter, you know who you are...

 

[Juicy Box]

The HBO service has undergone several rebranding efforts over the years. The first HBO streaming service was known as HBO Go, and it later became HBO Now. HBO Now was rebranded as just HBO, and then it became HBO Max. After that it was just Max, and now we're back to HBO Max.

I thought the HBO Go and HBO Now was two different apps with different types of users, one app for people who already subscribed to HBO via their cable/satellite service and it allowed them to access HBO content outside of their TV service for no additional cost, and the other app was for people that didn't subscribe elsewhere and was a paid service.

Both apps were in use at the same time, it wasn't a re-branding. Maybe I am misremembering...

 

[jouster]

This might make me rethink my plans to rename myself “Jouster Max”:

 

[salz4life]

Nobody fails up better than David Zaslav!! Kudos to him.

 

[Galas]

And you wonder where all the price increases revenue goes!

 

[Complex757]

I wonder how much money was wasted for the name change?

Everyone said it was dumb from the very beginning. Max was Cinemax and HBO should have always been part of the name for the nostalgia factor where you think of Sopranos, The Wire, Game Of Thrones, Deadwood, Rome...

 

[FriendlyMackle]

I agree that there's not an obvious distinction between TV studio and TV content, but we have the same thing with Hulu and Disney.
Seriously, who would assume the simpsons and Xfiles, both historic Fox TV shows, would be on Disney+ unless you're an actual nerd like us.

Every effort to separate the product from the corporation is mostly a failure. Comcast for example. No one refers to their TV + Internet service provider Xfinity, they just call it Comcast.

I didn't even realize that the X Files were on Disney!
Just a few years ago they were on Hulu.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Their branding has been so bad that this statement—as bad as it is—is actually incorrect because the truth is even more convoluted.

HBO Go was for HBO (cable) subscribers to access to HBO cable content they were already paying for, but through a mobile app at no additional charge.

HBO Now was a distinct streaming service that was available to non-cable subscribers, and provided access to HBO cable content without an HBO cable subscription.

HBO Max was a distinct streaming service that was available to everyone, and provided access to HBO cable content + HBO Max exclusives with or without an HBO cable subscription.

There was a brief window in 2020 where HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO Max all existed alongside each other as distinct services that someone could be subscribed to, before HBO Max (later Max, later still HBO Max) eventually ate them all. I might enjoy HBO Go as a cable subscriber, and then additionally subscribe to HBO Max so that I could enjoy HBO Max exclusives, while my neighbor only did HBO Now so that they could enjoy HBO cable content without having to subscribe to cable. Loads of articles like this one popped up at the time to help explain the mess.

Clear as mud?

And don't forget to mention that when they launched 'HBO MAX' it was thoroughly f*cked up and had massive quality problems, lacking even the same basic functionality in some cases (it was uneven) as the other predecessor apps!

 

[FriendlyMackle]

it should just be HBO. max can be a feature or function of it if they want but not a separate confusing app.

in fact all apps should get to this point of simplicity again. and if you use a streaming device, ie Apple TV, the local abc, fox, nbc channels should automatically work in your region in their corresponding apps, as they would if you had antenna or only local broadcast through cable, with scheduled tv programing and live tv.

this whole streaming/app is nonsensical in its current state and often a waste of money. one example is sports, I dont watch many but for NBA games its infuriating, if you buy the NBA League Pass app you still get blackouts and no local coverage (dumb), its limited if theyre playing on ESPN, TNT, or some other channel (goes what not all of us have access to those....because streaming). so then you have to get other apps like ESPN, well there is no ESPN subscription it only works with your provider (maybe Cable Co, YouTube TV, Hulu) and its other the same as ESPN+ which is part of the Disney bundle, and ABC? what good luck with that, same situation.

I don't watch sports AT ALL...and I am SO SICK to death of these services cramming sports programming into their already bursting-at-the-seams content programming so they can jack up the prices for everyone. First Disney, then HBO, then Netflix, and Prime. I mean, really, just market an add-on, don't think we all want WWE (I know, not really 'sports', more like 'freakish circus'), NBA, whatever the other leagues are.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Thrones, Dragon, The Last of Us, et al are so underwhelming that I won't be renewing.

I just cancelled this past month, once I finished White Lotus S3. SO MUCH, so boring.

 

[0423MAC]

I don't watch sports AT ALL...and I am SO SICK to death of these services cramming sports programming into their already bursting-at-the-seams content programming so they can jack up the prices for everyone. First Disney, then HBO, then Netflix, and Prime. I mean, really, just market an add-on, don't think we all want WWE (I know, not really 'sports', more like 'freakish circus'), NBA, whatever the other leagues are.

Sports are really the last thing content providers are holding on to justify these prices.

What’s really bugged me is the idea that ad-supported platforms couldn’t be provided at zero cost to the consumers because of the production costs associated with making original content.

Tubi has pretty move proven this to be false and it was nothing but greed. The content on Netflix is much worse today once they lost virtually unlimited access to a hundred years of content.

Open up Netflix, Hulu and the rest and it’s content that’s about on par with what you would find on free tv or standup specials, which I’m personally not a fan of.

 

[ZMacintosh]

I don't watch sports AT ALL...and I am SO SICK to death of these services cramming sports programming into their already bursting-at-the-seams content programming so they can jack up the prices for everyone. First Disney, then HBO, then Netflix, and Prime. I mean, really, just market an add-on, don't think we all want WWE (I know, not really 'sports', more like 'freakish circus'), NBA, whatever the other leagues are.

well they, the NBA, does, but there are so many blackouts and hoops to jump through. One is already paying close to $200 a year for their service and cant be used during their playoff series or went something is being broadcast on an ABC, NBC, ESPN, or TNT....so its overly saturated and not consumer friendly at all.

 

[veggiespam]

As a director in the security team which launched HBO Max (the first time), all I can say is <redacted due to NDA>.

 

[danpass]

It was always stupid to have named it 'Max'.

Who is responsible for that?

The dummy who thought of it.
The idiot who seconded it.
The numbskull(s) who approved it.

 

[MA10N3]

McKinsey probably charge them a boatload of money for consulting and gave them bad advice!

 

[o9p0]

This isn't that hard. What they should've done is kept HBO as its own service as well as all the others for a la carte subscriptions, and then offered Max as one bundled service.

Basically this. Back in the day of cable, HBO always had a small handful of marquee movies on lease from their respective studios each month. With the massive WB catalog, they could have expanded on the pattern to drive subscriber growth for both imprints. (i.e. exclusive content that is only ever on one of the family of services)

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Their statement about wanting more quality content, not volume is one Netflix could listen to.

 

[TinaBelcher]

I’m actually happy about this as I never stopped calling it “HBO Max”, now can we get the purple colors back?

 

[1rottenapple]

I still used the word hbo max throughout the entire period.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

I’m actually happy about this as I never stopped calling it “HBO Max”,

I still call it "Home Box."

 

[mreg376]

Just go all the way back to HBO and stay there.

I bet most people don't even know what "HBO" stands for.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I bet most people don't even know what "HBO" stands for.

or ESPN for that matter

A good long term brand is simply a good brand.