RIP HBO Max and Discovery+: “Max” launches May 23
Enlarge / A still from the HBO series The Last of Us. (credit: Warner Bros. Discovery)
As expected, media mega-corp Warner Bros. Discovery has announced a new streaming service that will combine the programming of HBO Max and Discovery+, replacing those services with one single subscription. It will simply be called "Max" (as previously reported), and we learned today that it will launch on May 23 in the US.
HBO and Discovery semi-recently fell under the same umbrella after a merger, but they've run two streaming services, each with a different style of content. HBO Max combined the prestige dramas of premium cable network HBO with a deep library of Warner Bros-owned properties and some generally strong originals under the HBO Max-produced brand. Discovery+, meanwhile, offered mostly unscripted series from networks like HGTV, Discovery Channel, TLC, and Food Network.
The new streaming service will put all that under the same roof, with three subscription tiers: