What to know (update) – Miscellaneous

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Warner Bros. revealed. Discovery finally announced plans (and confirmed the longtime popular name) for its new streaming service, Max, which will combine offerings from HBO Max and Discovery+ into one product, during a slick press presentation on Warner Bros. Studio lot Wed.

The event kicked off at 10 a.m. at the iconic Burbank location, presided over by WBD CEO David Zaslav, President and CEO of Worldwide Broadcasting and Games JB Perrette, HBO and HBO Max CEO and Chairman Casey Bloys (who now also oversees Chip and Magnolia Network affiliates). to Joanna Gaines), and US Networks Group President and Chief Content Officer Kathleen Finch.

diverse on the scene, and ready to give you all the details on the new streaming device, and Warner Bros.’s strategy. Discovery direct-to-consumer, the future of HBO and the standalone version of Discovery+.

“Max is the one to watch,” Zaslav said Wednesday, revealing the name and logo of the bar embedded at the top of the event.

First announced in August 2022 — just a few months after the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery officially closed — the joint product wasn’t originally supposed to be released until this summer, but in November, WBD moved up the schedule to a spring launch.

Then Warner Bros. Discovery spent several months emphasizing how many resources were dedicated to building this new platform from the ground up, with CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels saying at a conference in January that the current HBO Max was a “secondary” offering.

Follow along with this live blog, which will be updated in real time as announcements of Warner Bros.’s WBD broadcast event appear. Stage 14 in Burbank.

* First, CEO David Zaslav confirmed that the name of the built-in service is Max.

*WBD broadcast president JB Perrette revealed that Max’s release date is May 23.

*Perrette noted the importance of removing HBO from the HBO Max name: “HBO is not TV. HBO is HBO, and it needs to stay that way, and that’s why we’re going to give it the privilege of trying the product and also not push it to a breaking point by forcing it to take on the full scope of our proposal.” This content, if we kept the trademark in the name of the service.

* HBO CEO and Chairman Max Casey Bloys kicked off the slate of updates on Max’s original programming with announcements in the DC universe, starting with the first look at Matt Reeves’ “The Penguin” starring Colin Farrell.

* Bloys has announced a new series of The Big Bang Theory to premiere at Max, as well as a show set in the “The Conjuring” universe, “The Devil Made Me Do It.”

* Bloys has revealed the first look at the “Smartless” series by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes based on the podcast of the same name, How to Be a Bookie. He also announced Downey’s Dream Cars and a project featuring Shaun White.

*The Bloys shared a first look at Chip and Joanna Gaines’ latest Magnolia Network project, “Fixer Upper: The Hotel” diverse Reported exclusively in the cover story this past October.

* New footage from the DC movie “The Flash,” which will premiere on Max after its theatrical release, starring Ezra Millar.

More is coming.