HBO Max has had its issues, but I don’t know if it’s worth eliminating it completely. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what will happen.
As reported by The Verge, Warner Bros. Discovery plans to cancel the HBO Max app in the summer of 2023. In an earnings call earlier today, CEO David Zaslav announced the move, saying the company plans to combine HBO Max with Discovery+ apps in A huge new app that will be called something completely new.
Zaslav says the new app will combine the power of content in HBO Max with the “package of best tech” in Discovery Plus.
“HBO Max has a competitive feature set, but it has performance and customer issues.” He went on to say that Discovery Plus has a better technology stack and will become the core of the new service that will combine HBO Max content with Discovery Plus content and technology.
What will the new service be called?
While Zaslav was willing to announce that HBO Max had been killed, he didn’t go so far as to name the new service. Some expected HBO to be brought directly into the Discovery+ app as a so-called “channel” within the app, but Discovery+ also appears to be getting the ax — at least as its own standalone app.
“We think the product is going to be great,” Zaslav said, referring to the newly integrated service it plans to launch in the summer of 2023. The CEO noted that HBO Max, despite its technical issues, has rapidly grown in brand recognition when compared to other streaming services.
This makes a lot of sense because HBO Max is a much more popular streaming service than the current Discovery+ service. We’ll have to wait and see how Warner Bros. Discovery launches its new service while staying true to the power HBO Max has gained over the past year or so.
If you want to enjoy HBO Max, Discovery+, and whatever Warner Bros. Discovery brings together, the best place to watch is on Apple TV 4K. Even better, the 32GB model is on great sale right now on Amazon.
The new Apple TV 4K features an upgraded processor, support for higher frame rates, and a new Siri Remote.