The market has spoken here, and quality is the real differentiator.” To put it more plainly: The basic assumption behind the Max branding, that viewers would flock to Discovery’s big buckets of unscripted dross over the decades of quality material in HBO and other Warner Bros.

Gunnar Wiedenfels told an investors conference "there’s a lot more openness to discuss the options" ahead for additional industry consolidation in a disruptive streaming era.

HBO Max became simply Max in 2023. Now Warner Bros. Discovery is going back to basics and reclaiming a brand long associated with high-quality programming.