- Max is now HBO Max again as Warner Bros. Discovery rebranded the streaming platform.
- This decision comes as part to better represent their premium catalogue of content that drives subscribers.
- The change will take place in the coming days of summer and will not effect any current plans or subscriptions.
Back in 2023, Warner Bros Discovery made an odd choice to drop HBO branding from its streaming service, only keeping the Max part. It’s like Apple dropping the “i” in iPhone and simply calling it the Phone. Two years later, it seems the executives are finally coming to their senses and rebranding their streaming service to HBO Max again.
This change of names was announced at the company’s Upfront event on Wednesday. HBO head Casey Bloys said that the renamed service “better represents” their offering. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement, “Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead“.
The service was initially launched as HBO Max in 2020. But Warner Bros Discovery later filled it with content from their other properties. This included shows and documentaries from the Discovery Channel, TLC, and more.
To better represent the new content at the time, and to show that the service isn’t all about HBO’s adult television programming, it was decided to drop the HBO title, renaming it to just “Max”. However, it seems like that change didn’t bear the fruit WB execs were hoping for. That is why they are renaming the service to its original name again.
But HBO’s decades worth of quality content is why many people subscribe to the service in the first place. Shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, and recently, The Last of Us are what drive subscribers to pay for the service. I assume this is why The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy were called HBO originals instead of Max originals.
Do you prefer the new-ish name or the simpler “Max” title? Let us know in the comments below.
