Max Is Becoming "HBO Max" Again, Because of Course They Are

Two years after rebranding as “Max,” HBO is changing the name of its streaming service a second time — and you’ll never guess what they’re going with.

Yes, the streamer formerly known as HBO Max is becoming HBO Max once again. The change, which will take place over the summer, was announced by Warner Bros. Discovery (HBO’s parent company) at its upfront presentation to advertisers in New York, per Deadline.

It turns out abandoning the name of a brand that has become synonymous with prestige television was a bad idea. In a press release explaining the change, Warner Bros. Discovery says the rebrand will “amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering.” Translation: People who are fans of HBO’s programming are probably more likely to subscribe to a service that actually has HBO in the name.

“With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition,” Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys reportedly told the crowd at the upfront presentation. “And it clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for.”

This is all a no-brainer, of course. The initial Max rebrand was a dumb move that was largely mocked when it was announced two years ago. But the move to aggressively differentiate HBO’s content from the rest of the Warner Bros. Discovery catalogue housed on the streaming service feels significant.

“This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs,” JB Perrette, President and CEO of Streaming for the company, said. “No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content.”

That’s a huge departure from the company’s initial decision to bring over non-HBO shows onto the service after Warner Bros. merged with Discovery. The idea back then was that adding as much content as possible to Max would make it a one-stop shop for everything the company produces. But now they’re embracing quality over quantity and bringing back the HBO name. It would seem that promoting shows like My 600-Pound Life or whatever TLC’s latest salacious reality happens to be next to The White Lotus hasn’t worked out the way they thought it would. There’s even speculation that the name change signals a potential split on the horizon.

But for now, let’s all revel in the fact that we were right all along.