Warner Bros Discovery Relaunches HBO Max Streamer as ‘Max’ in Bid for Broader Audience 

Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
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Warner Bros Discovery Relaunches HBO Max Streamer as ‘Max’ in Bid for Broader Audience 

Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)

When the HBO Max streaming service relaunches on Tuesday as "Max," Warner Bros Discovery Inc will learn whether mixing critically acclaimed dramas with reality fare that some might describe as a "guilty pleasure" will attract more subscribers.

"Max" will bring together HBO’s high-end scripted programming like "Succession" and Warner Bros films with Discovery’s food, home and lifestyle content, including "Fixer Upper: Welcome Home," in a bid to broaden the appeal of the original HBO Max service, as well as reduce the number of people canceling the service each month. It also plans to expand the portfolio of children's content.

Warner Bros Discovery first announced the planned changes on April 12.

The media company forged by the 2022 union of WarnerMedia and Discovery is betting that the addition of Discovery content will help retain viewers who typically sign up for HBO Max to watch a season of their favorite show – and then cancel after the finale.

It is a formula that proved successful for the Discovery+ service in Poland and the Nordic countries.

"In markets where we had scripted entertainment and nonfiction sitting together, we know the proposition works," said JB Perrette, Warner Bros Discovery’s president and chief executive of global streaming, adding that despite the common perception of HBO viewers "as only living in an ivory tower of HBO, the reality is we all have guilty pleasures."

Max also will seek to mine the media company's rich trove of entertainment franchises, with a forthcoming "Harry Potter" series, a "Game of Thrones" prequel and the DC Comics-inspired "The Penguin," starring Colin Farrell. Perrette said the company also is thinking about how to incorporate sports in its streaming offering.

In its first-quarter results announced earlier this month, Warner Bros Discovery said its streaming unit, which includes the HBO Max and Discovery+ services, posted adjusted pretax earnings of $50 million, compared with a loss of $227 million a year earlier. It gained 1.6 million subscribers.

"Our US streaming business is no longer a bleeder," CEO David Zaslav said on a post-earnings call.

That marked a milestone for a division that had been losing money in its bid to gain subscribers and a foothold in the industry's digital future. However, Zaslav said the churn on HBO Max was unacceptably high. Some 6.5% of HBO Max subscribers canceled the service in April, double the churn rate of rival Netflix Inc, according to the analytics firm Antenna.

Discovery+ will remain a standalone platform, though its most popular shows will also be available on Max.

Max has three tiers: an ad-supported version for $10 per month and ad-free version for $16 per month, both with the ability to stream on two devices at once; and a $20-per-month ad-free version that can be streamed on four devices at once.



Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s $400M Lawsuit Against ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)
Justin Baldoni attends the 'It Ends With Us' premiere in New York City, US, August 6, 2024. (Reuters)

A judge on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that actor and director Justin Baldoni filed against his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively after she sued him last year for sexual harassment and retaliation.

US District Court Judge Lewis Liman's decision is the latest development in the bitter legal battle surrounding the dark romantic film.

Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued in January for $400 million, accusing Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion.

The New York judge ruled that Baldoni can’t sue Lively for defamation over claims she made in her legal claim, because allegations made in a lawsuit are exempt from libel claims. Liman also ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn't count as extortion under California law.

The judge, however, said Baldoni could revise the lawsuit if he wanted to pursue different claims related to whether Lively breached or interfered with a contract. His legal team indicated it planned to do so.

"Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false," one of Baldoni's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement. He said that Lively's claims that she was sexually harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear campaign intended to taint her reputation, were "no truer today than they were yesterday."

"It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.

The judge also dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which had reported on Lively's sexual harassment allegations.

"Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, (publicist) Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Lively's attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, said in a prepared statement.

The lawyers said they "look forward to the next round" of seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages.

A spokesperson for The New York Times said they were "grateful to the court for seeing the lawsuit for what it was: a meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting."

"Our journalists went out and covered carefully and fairly a story of public importance, and the court recognized that the law is designed to protect just that sort of journalism," Charlie Stadtlander said in an emailed statement.

Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows."

Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote the book "Man Enough."