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The era of Max is upon us as HBO and Discovery combine

Starting Tuesday, May 23, logging in to your HBO Max app will be a bit different. That’s the day that HBO Max combines with Discovery under a new tech stack — which promises to be better than the last — and a new brand. And, with luck, it’ll be a seamless transition.

A reminder that HBO Max is becoming Max on May 23, 2023.

The gist is this: HBO Max is going away as a brand. But the content — most of it, anyway — will live on with the HBO name. That goes for the best shows on HBO Max, like Succession. (Seriously, someone thought it’d be a good idea to do this conversion just days before the finale?) The same is true for the best movies on HBO Max. And it’ll live alongside a ton of content from the Discovery family of networks, all under the Max branding. And, for what it’s worth, the Discovery+ app isn’t going anywhere.

That perhaps is a little confusing, we know. But the short version is that the HBO Max app is going away, and will be replaced by Max.

You shouldn’t have to do anything for this transition to happen, by the way, save for perhaps updating your HBO Max app, if it didn’t already do so automatically. (If you’re on an Amazon device, Cox cable, Roku, Vizio, or Xfinity, your app should be good to go. Otherwise, you may have to update things yourself.) And you might have to log back in. But that theoretically should be the worst of it.

Your HBO Max account will be automatically transferred to Max. That includes profiles and settings. You will, however, need to re-download anything you’ve snagged for offline viewing.

And it (probably) is that simple. While it’s definitely possible that things could go off the rails, HBO Max has done this sort of transition before, when it changed from HBO Go/HBO Now to HBO Max in May 2020.

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And now there is Max. The road to the streaming service dubbed "the one to watch" is a long and twisted one that's seen two major rebrandings in just a handful of years. But here we are, with the former HBO Max now combined with (and living under the same corporate umbrella as) Discovery.

The short version? HBO, once upon a time, was owned by Time Warner, which at one point was owned by AT&T, which decided maybe a telecom didn't need to be in the entertainment business after all, and so it did a deal that combined WarnerMedia with Discovery. Tucked away in that timeline was the dawn of the streaming age, with HBO first navigating a messy dual live/on-demand strategy with HBO Go and HBO Now (or was it the other way around?), before merging those into a single HBO Max service.

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Today's a big day for the new Max streaming service. After months of fanfare from execs, the combined HBO Max/Discovery streaming service has launched. But despite all the talk of a better tech platform (which might well be true!) and all the new content (which definitely is true), Max is not working for some. Or the idea of having to download a new app is awkward and annoying at best.

Here's what you need to know about the whole transition.
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There are a few things that could be a play here, but there's one obvious one: Unlike HBO Max, the new Max service is only available in the U.S., including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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In June, HBO Max is no more; long live Max. Whatever it's called, Max is the destination streamer at the moment. It is still celebrating its winter triumph, The Last of Us while the streamer just wrapped two of its most acclaimed and popular shows of all time, Succession and Barry.

HBO Max's June 2023 schedule promises to keep the tradition of quality programming alive with a bevy of new releases that include the controversial limited series The Idol, which stars the pop singer The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp, and Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy. In addition, the fan-favorite Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That returns for a second season while 2022's most popular movie, Avatar: The Way of Water, makes its streaming debut. Here's what coming to HBO Max in June 2023:
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