HBO Max Threatened By New Merger With Discovery+, Upsetting Fans And Generating Memes

Rumors that the streaming service HBO Max will undergo significant restructuring in the coming months have rattled fans and baffled those with knowledge of the industry in recent days.

At the moment, HBO Max is one of the most well-known streaming services around despite being younger than competitors like Hulu. Its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, seems set to purportedly fold it into the less-successful Discovery+ streaming service and pivot away from scripted original content.

Okay, here's the RUMOR re the #WBD presentation on Thursday

- #HBOMax will be folded INTO #DiscoveryPlus
not vice versa, probably as #HBO tab

- getting rid of #HBOMax scripted, overall streaming focusing on unscripted

- #HBO stays as is, as a premium cable channel

— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) August 2, 2022

This comes after Warner Bros. Discovery canceled the release of the almost-finished Batgirl movie, while keeping The Flash starring current fugitive Ezra Miller, enraging many. The two media companies (Warner Bros. and Discovery) merged in April earlier this year as part of a growing trend of high-profile media mergers that include the 2019 merger of Disney and 21st Century Fox.

Many criticized Warner Bros. Discovery for what they deemed a "stupid decision," seeing as HBO Max is currently outperforming competitors such as Netflix.

if warnerbros actually gets rid of hbomax there’s no hope for that company. hbomax is genuinely the most successful new-age streaming service right now, and to get rid of that for discovery?? nobody even knows what that is

— ceo of kory (@korysverse) August 2, 2022

HBOMax folding into Discovery Plus after getting 104 Emmy nominations this year would be the dumbest shit I ever seen in my life I'll take it with a grain of salt but they are legit idiots running the company over there so who knows.

— Ahmed/INeedHer.eth 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) August 3, 2022

To whoever was in charge of the #HBOMax decision. pic.twitter.com/1WHyWKj6kj

— Tyler Dilbeck (@tyldil204) August 3, 2022

netflix making so many bad decisions over the years but then getting obscenely lucky that hbomax self-immolates is like a succession plotline

— Sage Hyden / Just Write (@sagehyden) August 3, 2022

Many also memed about their fear that content offerings at the new Discovery+-HBO Max hybrid would not be up to snuff, and would focus too much on the unscripted documentary side of the business.
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when I open the HBOmax app expecting to see dick balls ass titties and instead I hear Morgan Freeman’s voice narrating geese migration pic.twitter.com/7Ld4QGB6Rg

— cheye 🧊 (@wumbooty) August 3, 2022

Why they saying HBOmax finna turn into animal planet?

— HOOD VOGUE is tired of poverty (@keyon) August 3, 2022

Fans also joked about smuggling their favorite HBO Max originals out of the streaming service, in an attempt to save them from possible cancelation.

the burning of the modern library of alexandria pic.twitter.com/JoedPvgAgV

— m🅰️tt dilfon (@mattdilfon) August 3, 2022

me leaving hbomax hq with ofmd s2 up my ass pic.twitter.com/QLEpCva5mZ

— dan (@edwardteaching) August 3, 2022

grabbing my favorite hbomax shows under my arm and thrusting them at hbo, begging it to take them like i’m a father trying to get his kids off the titanic

— carey (@brokebackstan) August 3, 2022

The new management of Warner Bros. Discovery is controversial for other reasons as well. CEO David Zaslav has hired only white men for top jobs, as reported by Bloomberg, and reportedly alienated directors and creative talent with a heavyhanded management style.

hbo max getting liquidated by a maga for discovery content is part of the beginning of a right wing shift in media content. it already happened with the cw, it’s happening with netflix, now hbomax. this plus the war they’re waging on public schools has me worried

— britt 🚴🏼‍♀️🛶 (@BritterDD) August 4, 2022

At a general with HBOMax in the not too distant past, the execs were so excited about prioritizing a "younger and more diverse HBO" style of programming.

No amount of bottom-up diversity initiatives will ever fix a top-down problem. Eventually, everything hits the same barrier. https://t.co/3KigMgPvaW

— Corey Deshon (@CoreyDeshon) August 3, 2022

What the future holds for the HBO Max streaming service remains to be seen, but the details are likely to emerge in the Warner Bros. Discovery second-quarter earnings report, which will come out sometime in the next few days.