If you consume HBO content exclusively through the OTT platform HBO Max, you got a bit of a surprise this week. While the company had been preparing users that HBO Max and Discovery+ were going to be merged into an app simple called Max, users were shocked to find out that the existing apps weren’t simply going to become Max. Instead, users had to go download a new app entirely.
Dan Le Batard wonders if that might spell doom for the rollout of the new service.
“What they’ve changed, Amin, is you have to go to a different place,” he told colleague Amin Elhassan on his Wednesday show. “It doesn’t just transfer over when you go to HBO Max, it says this isn’t working anymore. This is closed forever. You’ve got to go somewhere else. Your Internet is not going to connect here.”
While HBO Max’s sports content was minimal, Warner Bros. Discovery has bigger plans for Max. In addition to US Soccer, it is expected that the new app will be the exclusive home for some NBA matchups if the league’s deal with TNT is renewed.
That is a worry for the future though. This weekend, HBO will air the finale of Succession. Le Batard wonders how many people are going to miss it entirely due to confusion.
“You have to download another app. And I do believe they’re going to lose a good many people who just simply don’t know how to do this of a certain age. They’re not going to be able to get over there, get their password and figure this part out without the help of the kids.”
Certainly how many of those users disappear forever is of interest to the NBA and NHL, but both leagues have good relationships with Warner Bros. Discovery. In the case of the NBA, the relationship with TNT goes back decades. A clumsy rollout of a new app is not ideal, but it isn’t likely to cost WBD Sports in upcoming negotiations.
