WARNERMEDIA TO CONSOLIDATE HBO BRANDS IN THE USA

On Friday, WarnerMedia announced its effort to clear the confusion with its numerous streaming assets, with upcoming changes to its HBO Now and HBO Go apps. Cable add on, HBO Go will be eliminated, while desktop service HBO Now will shorten its name to the simpler HBO. WarnerMedia will be consolidating its HBO brands amid HBO Max's launch. The changes were implemented to maintain remaining pay-TV partners in the HBO Max corral and add pressure on Roku and Amazon to join.  

In the U.S., authenticated streaming app HBO Go will be transformed into a direct-to-consumer streaming service HBO Max. WarnerMedia said the HBO Go app would be removed from ‘primary platforms’ on 31st July 2020. HBO Go will remain available internationally, at least for now.  It added that most customers who have previously used HBO Go now have access to HBO Max. “Now that HBO Max has launched and is widely distributed, we can implement some significant changes to our app offering in the U.S.,” Warner Media said in a statement. “Most customers who have traditionally used HBO Go to stream HBO programming are now able to do so via HBO Max.”

Its standalone streaming app, HBO Now, will become just HBO and will continue to offer only HBO content.HBO Max incorporates all of the HBO library as well as 10,000 hours of content from the Warner Bros., Turner, Looney Tunes, and other libraries, despite more content being available on HBO Max, both HBO and HBO Max will cost USD 15 per month.

No subscription data is available yet for HBO Max, which launched 27th May, although WarnerMedia is expected to release some numbers with its second-quarter earnings report on 23rd July. The company has said it’s set a target of 50 million U.S. subscribers and 75 to 90 million globally in five years. HBO currently has 35 million subscribers, and current HBO subscribers automatically get access to HBO Max. WarnerMedia will not publicly disclose HBO Max subscriber numbers before AT&T’s second-quarter 2020 earnings release next month. "For those few remaining distributors, we’re committed to making HBO Max available on every platform possible to as many viewers as possible so hope to get those deals done soon, too,” a company representative said.