Big Changes Coming for DC and HBOMax – They’re Not Great
HBOMax will no longer exist next year, there’s a ten-year plan for the DCEU, and 90 Day Fiancee has its own universe. Let’s dig into the mess, shall we?
A Brief History of Sales & Mergers
AT&T picked up WarnerMedia in 2018 as part of a package deal to acquire Time Warner. During their ownership, there was an initiative to make big-budget movies based on DC IP to compete with Marvel and break into the streaming market with their own service. We got some great movies and HBOMax out of it. AT&T spun off WarnerMedia last year and started looking for takers.
Discovery, Inc. (as in the Discovery Channel from the before times of cable) made an offer and now we have Warner Bros. Discovery. The honeymoon period of the new company has ended and they are now into the new leadership is going to change everything period. And it’s not the stuff dreams are made of.
What’s Going on With HBOMax?
This week started a series of cancellations, removals, and layoffs that gave a hint at what was going to come next. More solid news and plans came out of the company’s Q2 earnings call with investors. It came with infographics! Infographics that say a lot about how much their CEO and leadership know about the audience they inherited.
via Warner Bros. Discovery
As a woman, I really do love unscripted home decorating shows and watching dating shows. All day. Yep. Uh-huh. Genredoms are my jam! I don’t know what they are, but I love them!
The biggest change for fans/consumers is going to be the merger of HBOMax and Discovery+ into a new streaming service that will debut in the US in summer 2023 and roll out across the globe soon after. During the call, the company’s CFO was very optimistic about the possibility of the merged services.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s unmatched depth and breadth of content provide us the opportunity to offer something for everyone. Providing consumers with a range of entertainment options will maximize our reach and financial returns.”
There is definitely variety – but how many HBOMax subscribers are going to want to watch Seeking Sister Wife or Beachfront Bargain Hunt? How many folks are out there that will binge both Peacemaker and one of the many versions of 90 Day Fiancé?
It’s going to be a grand experiment that will have to make careful choices that I’m not sure they’re capable of. If they price hike (HBOMax ad-free is $14.99/month right now, Discovery+ is $6.99) the new service because it includes Discovery+ content, they’ll lose subscribers. They will lose subscribers if the service doesn’t use the superior HBOMax UI. If TCM is dropped or they stop offering a diverse scripted catalog, they will lose subscribers. If they stop making shows that uplift minority voices (beyond polygamists, they do enough already), they will lose subscribers.
There are a lot of ways to screw this up and bean counters that run entertainment/creative companies tend to screw up a lot.
DC Plans
CEO Zaslav and the leadership understand that DC is important and they’re putting a bunch of resources into it. They’re also making the same mistake made by AT&T – they have a ten-year plan for a unified story that will rival Marvel.
“There will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together, very effectively, with Kevin Feige at Disney. We think that we could build a long-term much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality. We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter.'”
But you’ll not release them to make a quarter.
Movies & Shows
This is what the leadership thinks the important brands and IP they hold are. Note that “Iconic Series” doesn’t include the multiple Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning scripted dramas like Game of Thrones and Succession. HBO/HBOMax picked up 140 Emmy nods this year and they pick Property Brothers?
More proof that they don’t understand their consumers.
Do not expect any more exclusive movies on the streaming service (whatever they end up calling it). They’re pivoting to theatrical releases for feature length. I’m not opposed to this. Releasing feature-length movies via streaming became a necessity while theaters were on lockdown, we’re not there anymore. Movies are having strong opening weekends and raking in hundreds of millions of revenue. It’s time to go back to theaters – with new projects.
They should finish and put out the two movies they just shelved – Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt.
via Warner Bros.
CEO David Zaslav mentioned during the call that they are going to attract top talent to create new content. You can’t do that when you’ve proven you will pull the rug out from under them if the price is right.
The idea that you could pour a year or more of your life into a project, actually shoot it, get right up to the finish line on it, and then watch it evaporate into the ether for a corporate tax break is a nightmare. I feel so hard for everyone reeling from this right now.
— C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) August 3, 2022
The Batgirl/ HBO Max situation is why I spent my last day on set of Dickinson calling an exec at apple and *begging* for a physical recording of my show…they actually gave me one, I have the ONLY copy…. People said I was crazy but dude, that’s ten years of my life 🎞📽📼📀
Advertisement— Alena Smith (@internetalena) August 3, 2022
They’ve already created a hostile environment for creators and the service doesn’t even have a name. Who is going to want to work with them without adding distribution guarantees and other safeguards? The company leadership has shot themselves in the foot if they want scripted content that will bring home awards.
We’ll have to see where this goes from here. The company’s stock slid 12% after the call, so there’s some lack of confidence in them already. It could be great, but this week has really shown the true colors of the company’s leadership. This is all about money. You can’t run a successful creative enterprise by just looking at the bottom line.
