Max Streaming Service Changes Names Again

It seemed like an odd decision to do away with the name HBO Max when Warner Bros. Discovery announced the move in the spring of 2023. HBO was one of the most famous and respected brands in television, known for its high-quality TV shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Game of Thrones. All of the HBO content people liked remained on the streaming service (well, at least the stuff WBD didn’t pull down from the service as a cost-cutting measure) but from early 2023 to now it was just known as “Max.”

Not anymore.

In a big about face, Warner Bros. Discovery announced today that they were restoring HBO to their streaming service’s name. So Max will again be known as HBO Max.

Everyone got that?

Warner Bros, HBO Max

HBO Max first launched (as “HBO Max”) with that purple logo you see there in the summer of 2020. Although it carried films and shows from across the company’s various divisions, HBO series were one of its most important and most popular facets. So, again, removing that name was an odd choice in the first place. Don’t you want customers to know that this is the place to stream all those incredible HBO shows that you’ve created over the last 25 years?

If you’re keeping track, HBO content has also previously been available online under the names HBO Now (a more specialized streaming service that just offered HBO content prior to the introduction of HBO Max) and HBO Go (an online hub for HBO cable subscribers). At least those two offerings were never renamed “Now” and “Go.”

Here was Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s comment on the name change:

The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming. Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.

Warner Bros. Discovery says the rebranding back to HBO Max will take place later this summer.