Commentary

It's Not HBO, It's Just TV: HBO Now Just Another Network?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 17, 2024

The decoupling of pay TV services and their TV networks hits another milestone with new TV network/ streaming services distribution deals --- Charter Communications-Warner Bros. Discovery and DirecTV-Walt Disney.

The broad picture sees a growing trend starting a year ago. Premium streamers with brand names such as Max, Disney+, Hulu and discovery+ can now be sold and packaged by legacy TV network retailers/distributors -- cable, satellite, telco, and virtual services.

But now there are more eye-opening results: Part of the new Charter-Warner Bros. carriage deal now has premium TV network HBO placed in basic cable TV bundles alongside around 200 or 300 other networks -- to be packaged at no additional cost to consumers.

For decades, consumers have paid an extra fee for the ad-free premium cable TV networks -- HBO and Showtime, among others. For its part, HBO is priced now at $15.99 a month -- a price that also gives consumers access to the Max streamer.

The positive is that this gives HBO more potential to reach more consumers alongside broader reach advertising-supported networks and platforms. This all good news for consumers -- in the short term, anyway.

But long-term what does this mean for the still visible and viable HBO premium brand -- one that regularly scores around 100 Emmy nominations for its programming every year.

Remember that Warner Bros. Discovery launched its premium streamer called HBO Max in 2020 -- as a premium ad-free service, later offering an ad-supported option. Most subscribers continued buying the ad-free offering.

But appealing to its broader programming content -- which included dramas from TNT, comedies on TBS and reality unscripted content from Discovery -- it dropped the "HBO" part of the name in early 2023.

The "Max" name alluded to HBO’s sister premium-ad free cable TV network Cinemax. Still, it doesn’t have nearly the brand appeal of an "HBO".. Overall, for many, this meant a slightly watered-down platform in terms of premium content.

All this comes as premium streamers like Max, Disney+ and Paramount+ have seen early signs of slight profitability or narrowing net losses. But the real question is whether they can grow to 20% or more profit margins that company’s such as Netflix typically register.

Do these legacy premium streamers then need to alter their “premium” brands -- like HBO -- for needed scale? Is this a scale drive to help streamers monetize more advertising dollars?

Recent business moves seem to devalue the mystique of cable TV brands -- already under duress.

This is a far cry from the big HBO brand slogan: “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO.”

Maybe now it could be: “It’s Not HBO. It’s Just (Good) TV.”

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