The new Discovery Communications empty suits running the recently-merged Warner Bros. Discovery have been taking a cost-cutting hatchet to a ton of things lately. The stunning shelving of the Batgirl HBO Max film, nearly-completed at a cost of $90 million+ will be hard to top, but there is time. At Thursday’s 2Q earnings call, it was announced that next summer, HBO Max and Discovery+ would be combined into one streaming service. Of course, a new brand name for the service or pricing were not announced.
Interestingly, there was THIS ham-fisted infographic showing some kind of justification for the combo service that was allegedly-based in some kind of research:
I find this equally hilarious and insulting, and based on my 30 years in TV & Media research, I know that’s not any kind of actual research. It’s complete bullshit. It’s an opinion, and not a very cogent one at that. The obvious:
- HBO Max (and HBO) does not skew male
- HBO has more scripted and Discovery+ has more unscripted. That’s true.
- Lean in / Lean back? WTF
- Please explain to me how Shark Week is not appointment viewing, but Comforting
- Enjoying DC content = Fandom / Enjoying Food Network content = Genredom? GTFO
It’s absolutely ridiculous. So I added some true points they forgot:
Anyway, I’m sure the services are not being merged into one platform because HBO Max (48.6 million subs) is excellent and Discovery+ (24 million subs) is terrible.
I’m also sure that since both services are complimentary, and thus combining the two would not generate any kind of added value to existing viewers, the subscription cost for HBO Max will not rise.
I’m sure.