Warner Bros. revealed. Discovery unveiled a streaming service on Wednesday that combines popular HBO programming like “The Sopranos” with a mix of unscripted TV series in an effort to garner more subscribers from what has hitherto been a muddled media fusion.
The $16-per-month service, called Max, will launch May 23 in the US and will automatically replace the company’s existing HBO Max service in what has been promised as a seamless transition. The Max will gradually become available in the rest of the world, with Latin America next on the list.
It will continue to offer the existing Discovery Plus app featuring both reality and improvised series such as “Fixer Upper” and “Naked and Afraid” from a range of TV networks. That’s even with all of that programming available within the new Max app, which will be marketed with the tagline “The One To Watch.”
The move comes a year after closing the roughly $43 billion deal that spun off the WarnerMedia division of AT&T’s HBO, CNN and TBS into Discovery, whose stables include TLC, HGTV, Magnolia and Food Networks.
when The deal was announced in 2021. Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav envisioned creating “the best media company in the world” backed by a massive library of movies, TV series, documentaries, and kids’ programming. The goal was to stand out from a host of streaming options competing for subscribers at a time when many households are cutting discretionary spending amidst Stubbornly high inflation.
With Max now on the verge of launching, Zaslav said he still sees big things ahead.
“This is our date with destiny,” he declared during a presentation at the same studio where films such as “Casablanca” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” were made. These films, in addition to the Warner Bros. The other, available at Max, is described by Zaslav as “the streaming version of must-watch TV”. Zaslav hinted that live sports events and news will be added to Max before the end of the year.
As Max will bring more pedestrian programming from Discovery Networks along with the boundary-breaking series that’s been HBO’s hallmark, Warner Bros. Discovery periodically states that HBO will remain the same flagship network that recently caused a stir with the “Last of Us” series, and is currently making waves with the final season of “Succession.”
To this end, the company said that it will announce another branch of its most watched series, ‘Game of Thrones’ and is developing a new live-action movie ‘Harry Potter’ A series featuring a different cast from the popular movie series based on the books by J.K. Rowling.
Warner Bros. hopes. Discovery that the Max app can help turn the tide after a year of turmoil.
Since taking over the combined company, Zaslav has laid off thousands of workers and Reduce other expenses to deal with the nearly $50 billion in debt the company took on largely due to the merger. Cost cutting included a decision To pull the plug on CNN’s streaming service a month after its release in a move that quickly raised doubts about whether the Warner Bros. Discovery deal would end in failure.
The continuing skepticism was reflected in the Warner Bros. share price. New York-based Discovery, which is down more than 40% since the merger was completed, including further erosion on Wednesday that occurred after the company laid out its plans for the Max app.
Shares in Netflix, the world’s top streaming service, fell 7% over the same period on concerns about its slowing growth, which included losing 920,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada in 2022, its largest market.
Netflix, which ended last year with 231 million subscribers worldwide, is just one of a handful of streaming devices that the new Max app will compete with. Other notables include Apple, Amazon, and The Walt Disney Co. , which offers apps for Hulu TV and ESPN in addition to Disney Plus.
Stiff competition has prompted Netflix to offer a low-cost streaming plan that includes ads, an option that Max will offer for $10 a month to viewers willing to put up with periodic commercial interruptions.