For several months now, the name change for the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform, known until then as HBO Max, had been confirmed. David Zaslav wanted to make several internal changes so the app wasn’t solely associated with one of the divisions of the company that creates series like Succession – 
86% and the house of the dragon 91%. The idea was that it would fairly represent all of his proposals, but the name became quite simple and remained just Max. After several weeks, today the official change of the service is finally made, but the process was not easy and caused many problems among users.
Keep reading: Max: new prices and releases for the new streaming platform
Since Netflix positioned itself as a successful brand that could use its platform to promote series and movies that couldn’t be seen anywhere else, as well as create high-quality exclusive titles, the production companies decided they didn’t want part of those profits, they wanted it all. This is how a curious war between streaming services began that continues to wreak havoc between productions, the way in which the public consumes them, and even in general expectations for certain projects.
Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ laid the foundation stone, but Disney was quick to do their thing, with Warners working hard to hit the deadline. The fight was brought forward more than expected due to the global pandemic that withdrew important premieres from the global commercial billboard such as Wonder Woman 1984 – 76% and The suicide squad – 91%, and left audiences looking for new ways to be entertained for long hours. The app offering was thrown into chaos, with every chain wanting to exploit the same dynamic, even if the risk didn’t make sense. Now that a couple of years have passed, things have calmed down a bit and they have found a clear flow between those dominant services and those that still survive, but will surely be absorbed in a few years.
Among all these examples, the case of HBO Max was even more complicated because the company had to go through a long transition after being acquired by Discovery. David Zaslav came to make several changes that didn’t garner much confidence among investors, creatives, and the public, ranging from canceling long-awaited movies like Batgirl, until support for artists and creations focused on diversity decrease and practically disappear. But the CEO had nothing to worry about, because even with the million-dollar losses, his streaming service was one of the strongest thanks to all the brands and divisions that live under his roof.
You may also like: Warner Bros. Discovery asked its talent to refrain from participating in its next Upfront due to the writers’ strike
The new prices for Max were announced some time ago, as well as the different ways to purchase it with or without advertising, with or without high-quality formats such as 4K, etc. Now the time for change has finally arrived, which, as expected, came with certain technical problems and hundreds of complaints from subscribers. When the process was not yet clarified, many users thought that they would have to cancel HBO Max to acquire another application, but this was not the case, since the transition was already made in the same service. As always happens with this type of streaming changes, many had problems accessing their accounts and even titles they wanted to enjoy.
According to Variety, the first reports of these problems arrived this Tuesday morning, since the idea was that the public would wake up with the change already made, but a good part could not get past the home page and the platform did not recognize their information to enter. Those lucky enough to make it past this hurdle were stuck in their accounts without being able to watch anything, which led them to the official HBO Max/Max support Twitter account which was quickly inundated with complaints, questions, claims and petitions.
To be honest, all apps go through these kinds of glitches, and Max sent out a statement assuring that the conflicts were minor and were being resolved quickly, although for some it’s been hours without resolution. Perhaps the public is less tolerant in the case of Max and Warner Bros. Discovery because of everything that has happened to the company since it arrived. David Zaslavwho little by little has become a complicated figure in the media for his comments on the writers’ strike and his new decision to withdraw hundreds of titles from the platform to save money.
don’t leave without reading: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Booed Over Non-Paid Writers
