By Dawn Chmielewski
-Warner Bros Discovery Inc said on Wednesday it will launch on May 23 its long-awaited new streaming service, christened “Max”, which combines HBO Max’s scripted entertainment with Discovery’s reality shows.
The new service will serve as a test of Chief Executive David Zaslav’s ambition to create one of the world’s leading streaming services by assembling a collection of disparate assets.
The opportunity to better capitalize on the streaming video revolution was one of the justifications for the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia in 2022.
But by the time the deal closed in April last year, Wall Street’s enthusiasm for streaming had begun to wane, as Netflix reported its first loss of subscribers in more than a decade. Investors began prioritizing profits over subscriber gains, ushering in a new frugality across Hollywood.
“We are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” Zaslav assured investors, shortly after the merger was finalized.
Zaslav repudiated his predecessor’s COVID-19 era strategy of releasing new movies simultaneously in theaters and in the home, via HBO Max.
Instead, Warner Bros films would enjoy a traditional theatrical release, and reap box office proceeds, before becoming available on the streaming service.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
