Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service HBO Max may soon be getting a new name.
According to CNBC, executives at Warner Bros. Discovery are nearly ready to rebrand the HBO Max streaming service and give it a new name, currently likeliest to be "Max." Senior executives are said to still be in discussion about the name and may ultimately change it. "Max," along with several other names, is currently being vetted by the company's legal team. Internally, it has also been reported that the company is referring to the new streaming service as "BEAM."
It has also been reported that the rebranded streaming service will feature a revamped user interface, with all of Warner Bros. Discovery's brands given individual tiles, akin to Disney+'s current layout, meaning HBO, Discovery, DC Comics and Warner Bros. each have their own landing hubs.
The reason for the name change is reportedly to end the confusion where HBO is concerned, as executives felt consumers would conflate all available content on the HBO Max streaming service with the HBO brand, rather than WBD's subsidiaries. In a greater context, the changes made to HBO Max are all being made in service to the goal of making it profitable and gaining $1 billion in earnings in streaming by 2025.
Warner Bros. Discovery has seen massive changes since the acquisition. Under the new CEO David Zaslav, HBO Max streaming service underwent a sizable purge, resulting in a multitude of films and television shows being removed from the content library. Zaslav previously explained, "Our whole library went on HBO Max, and we weren’t selling any of it, but it was all on there... Most of this is not being watched. Or, we don’t think anybody is subscribing because of this. We can sell it non-exclusively to somebody else. Look at this huge library that we have."
In addition, Zaslav confirmed HBO lost approximately $3 billion in 2021 after spending nearly $7 billion on projects. Over the last year, the CEO has scrapped projects such as Batgirl, laid Warner Bros. Discovery employees and executives off en masse and more, all in order to save $3 billion. The financial impact is currently uncertain, though it was previously reported that the company's stock had fallen 50 percent since the beginning of this year.
Warner Bros. Discovery's rebranded streaming service is scheduled to launch in the spring of 2023.
Source: CNBC