HBO Max Returns As Warner Bros. Discovery Changes The Name Of Its Streaming Service (Again)

Two years ago, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav took the stage at a company press event to revel in his brilliant decision to rename HBO Max as, simply, Max. "This is a real moment for us ... This is our time. This is our chance, and everything is possible," boasted the man who can't figure out how to make money off the enduringly popular Looney Tunes brand. "I feel like, for our company, this is our rendezvous with destiny."

Today, Zaslav again took the stage at a company press event to admit he made a catastrophically stupid mistake by sheepishly announcing that as of this summer, Max will once again be known as HBO Max. I'm kidding, he's totally trying to spin this as another brilliant decision on his not-so-brilliant part.

As you might recall, the initial rebrand was met with a great deal of skepticism, if not outright hostility. Why in the world would WBD want to back away from arguably the most prestigious brand in television? Though the company has been subject to the vicissitudes of Hollywood life, it is still viewed as the industry's gold standard. HBO has been a trusted brand since the 1970s. It's given us such game-changing original series as "The Sopranos," "The Larry Sanders Show," and "Game of Thrones." As viewers gravitated towards streaming services over the last decade-plus, the one service they were almost certain to subscribe to was the one that boasted HBO's full range of programming. Factor in a deep bench of current and classic movies, as well as sports, and this service couldn't possibly lose.

Why did Zaslav bury the HBO name?

Zaslav's decision was motivated by stupid pride. The CEO rose to corporate prominence as the head of Discovery Inc., which caters to viewers who crave such reality series as "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," "17 Kids and Counting," and "America's Worst Tattoos." After the merger that brought into existence the entertainment behemoth known as Warner Bros. Discovery, he saw an opportunity to mash his trash programming into the carefully curated realm of HBO Max. In doing so, he believed the company needed to simplify the brand, primarily because they thought HBO was too rarified a brand to attract the discerning eyeballs of people who gorge on "Dr. Pimple Popper" and "90 Day Fiancé."

Clearly, this didn't work as expected.

According to a press release, HBO Max will be "de-prioritizing other genres that drive less engagement or acquisition." This means they're going to jettison hundreds of hours of Discovery programming from the service. According to the powers that be at WBD:

"No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content. With other services filling the more basic needs with volume, WBD has clearly distinguished itself through its quality and distinct stories, and no brand has done that better and more consistently over 50+ years than HBO."

In an interview with Deadline, JB Perrette, WBD's president and CEO of streaming, offered up this hilariously evasive bit of corporate speak in lieu of saying "we screwed up":

"We've been iterating on this, both from a content and strategy standpoint for the last two years, ever since we launched, in the positioning of it, in terms of who we are and how we're different than what others in the marketplace are doing in terms of volume, We're more about quality and distinction."

In the same Deadline article, it's revealed that Perrette and company evaluated the streamer's progress over the last five years, and concluded that embracing the HBO brand provided them with the best chance at the kind of success they need to show their shareholders. They then took this data to Zaslav, and he signed off on the rebrand.

You do not, in fact, have to hand it to Zaslav for caving on his failed rebranding strategy. He'll save a bit of money here by not having to foot the bill for the licensing costs of those Discovery series, but pinching pennies is pretty much all he's successfully done since taking on the job of running a studio. In doing so, he's angered filmmakers and television creators who've seen their series disappeared from streaming or buried altogether (like Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's "Batgirl"). Figuring out how to turn a profit without scrapping the hard work of artists and crews (which should never be an option) is his job, and he continues to fail miserably at it.

WBD knows this branding about-face is going to cause all kinds of ridicule, so they've attempted to get out ahead of the scorn by goofing on themselves. The company's official X (formerly Twitter) account fired off a post this morning that read, "BREAKING: White smoke was seen coming from the Warner Bros. water tower. A new brand has been chosen." Folks, you don't get to make fun of yourself for damaging your company, especially when these foolish decisions can result in people getting fired.

A botch of this magnitude would typically get someone fired or force a shamefaced resignation. Alas, Zaslav, whose 2024 pay rose 4% to a whopping (and woefully undeserved) $54 million, doesn't appear to be going anywhere. So for now, we'll just have to savor the sight of Warner Bros. Discovery eating a heapin' helpin' of crow.