Is HBO Max Going Out of Business?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Buy Me a Coffee!

TV Answer Man, I just read that HBO Max is going out of business. How can that be? When will it happen? – Jeremy, Buffalo.

Jeremy, slow down. HBO Max is NOT going out of business. But it might undergo a major change in the next year or so. Let me explain.

Paramount Skydance, the owner of the Paramount Plus streaming service, last week edged out Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). HBO Max, which is owned by WBD, is part of the sale.

In an investors call today, David Ellison, the Paramount Skydance CEO, said his company plans to join HBO Max with Paramount Plus when the sale closes.

“We do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers,” Ellison told financial analysts.

This could be similar to what Disney Plus plans to do this year with Hulu – eliminate the standalone Hulu app and make its programming part of Disney Plus.

Before you start unsubscribing to HBO Max, however, note that the Paramount-WBD sale must be approved by federal regulators and that could take a year.

It’s also uncertain how the two services would be combined. Will Paramount make HBO a tile banner at the top of the service, which is Disney’s plan for Hulu? Or would all the programming just be piled together in one big app under the Paramount Plus brand or a new brand combining the HBO and Paramount names in some fashion?

Either way, HBO isn’t going away but it could lose some of its independence as a standalone brand.

Jeremy, I hope that answers your question. Happy viewing and stay safe!

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