American Pie Beta House Streaming Service

[Ena Marklund]

Maxformerly and still known in some regions as HBO Max, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).[1] The platform offers content from the libraries of Warner Bros., Discovery, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, TBS, TNT, Eurosport, and their related brands. Max first launched (as HBO Max) in the United States on May 27, 2020.

The service also carries first-run original programming under the "Max Originals" banner, programming from the HBO pay television service, and content acquired via either third-party library deals (such as those with film studios for pay television rights) or co-production agreements (including, among others, those with BBC Studios and Sesame Workshop).

When the service was first launched as HBO Max, it succeeded both HBO Now, a previous HBO SVOD service; and HBO Go, the TV Everywhere streaming platform for HBO pay television subscribers. In the United States, HBO Now subscribers and HBO pay television subscribers were migrated to HBO Max at no additional charge, subject to availability and device support. HBO Max also supplanted the streaming component of DC Entertainment's DC Universe service, with its original series being migrated to HBO Max as Max Originals. The HBO Max service began to expand into international markets in 2021.

According to AT&T,[c] HBO and HBO Max had a combined total of 69.4 million paying subscribers globally on June 30, 2021, including 43.5 million HBO Max subscribers in the U.S., 3.5 million HBO-only U.S. subscribers (primarily commercial customers like hotels), and 20.5 million subscribers to either HBO Max or HBO by itself in other countries.[2] By the end of 2021, HBO and HBO Max had a combined total of 73.8 million paying global subscribers.[3][4] At the end of Q1 2022, HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million global subscribers.[5]

Since the April 2022 merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, Max is one of the combined company's two flagship streaming services, the other being Discovery+ (which primarily focuses on factual and reality programming from the Discovery brands). WBD initially announced plans for HBO Max and Discovery+ to merge in 2023, but the company ultimately chose to retain Discovery+. As part of the decision, WBD has migrated some Discovery+ shows to Max, while also leaving them on Discovery+. WBD went on to replace HBO Max with a newly rebranded service that launched first in the United States on May 23, 2023, then in Latin America on February 27, 2024, and in Europe on May 21, 2024, shortening the service's name to "Max", introducing a redesigned user interface, and adding more Discovery content among other new series and films. The rebrand would also be applied to Netherlands, Poland, France, Monaco and several other regions in 2024, except in Germany, Italy and the UK, where it will be applied in 2025, and in the Benelux where the name "HBO Max" would be retained with rebranded Max logo.

On October 10, 2018, WarnerMedia announced that it would launch an over-the-top streaming service in late 2019, featuring content from its entertainment brands.[6] The original plan for the service called for three tiers with a late 2019 launch.[7] Randall L. Stephenson, chairman and CEO of WarnerMedia's parent, AT&T indicated in mid-May 2019 that it would use the HBO brand and would tie into cable operators as HBO cable subscribers would have access to the streaming service. A beta was expected in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a full launch in the first quarter of 2020 at the time.[8]

Otter Media was transferred in May 2019 to WarnerMedia Entertainment from Warner Bros. to take over the streaming service as Brad Bentley, executive vice president and general manager of direct-to-consumer development, exited the post after six months. Andy Forssell transferred from being the chief operating officer of Otter to replace Bentley as executive vice president and general manager while still reporting to Otter CEO Tony Goncalves, who would lead development.[9]

On July 9, 2019, WarnerMedia announced that the service would be known as HBO Max and that it would launch in spring 2020, while Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine and Greg Berlanti were signed to production deals for the service. (The "Max" moniker is shared with HBO's sister linear pay television service Cinemax, which has alternately identified by its suffix name since the mid-1980s and used it prominently in its branding from 2008 to 2011.)[10] On October 29, 2019, it was announced that HBO Max would officially launch in May 2020.[11]

On January 8, 2020, AT&T announced that Audience, a channel exclusive to subscribers of AT&T-owned television providers such as DirecTV with some original programming, would be sunset on May 22, eventually transitioning to a barker channel for HBO Max.[12] Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which would produce eight to ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020.[13] On April 20, 2020, WarnerMedia announced HBO Max's launch date as May 27.[14] Later that year on October 23, it was announced that WarnerMedia decided to consolidate the Warner Max label into the Warner Bros. Pictures Group after its chairman, Toby Emmerich, and his development and production team led by Courtenay Valenti of Warner Bros. Pictures, Richard Brener of New Line and Walter Hamada (who oversees DC-based films), was put to manage the company's entire film output, both theatrical and streaming releases.[15][16][17]

In July 2022, as a part of a cost-cutting and strategic move following the merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), it was reported that HBO Max had ceased new original series development in Central Europe, Nordic Europe, the Netherlands, and Turkey, as well as removed selected international series from the platform worldwide. It was reported that France and Spain had been largely excluded from these cuts, due to French regulations requiring streaming services to produce domestic content, and Spanish-language content appealing to a wide range of markets served by HBO Max.[18][19][20] With the cancellation of Gordita Chronicles later that month, it was reported that the service was also abandoning development of live-action children's and family programming.[21]

On August 3, 2022, it was reported that multiple Max Original films and HBO series had been quietly removed from the service without prior notice as part of cuts to direct-to-streaming films. The service then wrote off films and series that had underperformed.[22][23] It was also thought that avoiding payment for residuals played a part.[24] This followed news that had broken the previous day that then-upcoming Max Original films Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt had been both abruptly cancelled, despite being nearly complete.[25][26] During an earnings call the next day, WBD CEO David Zaslav stated that the company would cut children's programming and emphasize theatrical films over direct-to-streaming releases.[27][28]

Later that month, more programs were pulled from the streaming service, including animated and unscripted series such as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, Final Space, Summer Camp Island, Infinity Train, Close Enough, and nearly 200 episodes of Sesame Street, among others,[29][30] which was met with heavy backlash from fans, critics, actors, and creators alike.[31][32][33] On August 24, 2022, the HBO Max original films House Party (which was pulled from its slate just 17 days before its release) and Evil Dead Rise were both shifted to theatrical releases.[34] WBD later reached licensing deals with the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services The Roku Channel and Tubi (owned by Fox Corporation) in 2023; the deal covers over 2,000 hours of library programming, some of which being shows that had been pulled from HBO Max.[35][36]

During its third-quarter earnings report in November 2022, WBD stated that the merged service was now targeting a "Spring 2023" launch in the U.S., ahead of the original schedule. Perrette also stated of a potential price increase for HBO Max's ad-free tier in 2023, explaining that it was "an opportunity, particularly in this environment".[37] A price hike for the ad-free tier in the U.S. was later announced on January 12, 2023, which saw the price raised by $1 to $15.99 a month (the yearly plan would be unaffected by this move), effective immediately for new subscribers, while current subscribers would see the price hike starting on February 11, 2023.[38]

On March 14, 2022, after Discovery shareholders approved its merger with WarnerMedia, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that the company planned to pursue an eventual merger of HBO Max with its own streaming service Discovery+. Wiedenfels stated that this process would most likely begin with a bundle of the two services as a short-term option, with a long-term goal to eventually merge the services into one platform.[39]

In February 2023, Zaslav revealed during an earnings call that WBD would officially announce the service on April 12.[43] He also announced that WBD would continue operating Discovery+ in conjunction with the service rather than shut it down, stating that it was profitable, and that its subscribers were "very happy with the product offering".[44] One day before the scheduled announcement, The New York Times confirmed that the service would be called "Max", and that it would retain HBO Max's existing pricing and be available in multiple price tiers for six months (on December 5 its legacy ad-free tier will be removed with former users in this tier downgrading to the ad-free tier after this date).[45][46] WBD acquired the max.com domain name earlier that year from Max International, a nutritional supplement company.[47]

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