HBO Max pulled 36 low-viewership titles ahead of the Discovery+ merger to cut costs
Warner Bros. Discovery pulled 36 kids and reality titles from HBO Max before the 2023 Discovery+ combination, stopping residual payments and clutter.
What was changed
CNBC reported on 19 August 2022 that HBO Max was removing 36 movies and series by the end of that Friday, including 20 originals made for the platform such as the teen drama 'Genera+ion' and the 'Sesame Street' spinoff 'The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo'. The purge came ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery's plan to combine Discovery+ with HBO Max into a new US service in mid-2023. An HBO Max spokesman said that as the catalogs came under one platform, changes to the offering on both services would include removing some content.
CNBC laid out three motivations. Cost: production is paid for but residuals and back-end payments keep accruing, so removing shows — especially owned originals — cuts expenses immediately, part of at least $3bn in promised merger synergies; two people familiar with the matter put the savings at 'tens of millions of dollars'.
Focus: most removed content was reality or kids and family programming, and with Discovery bringing HGTV, Food Network and Animal Planet reality to the combined service, executives decided viewers do not come for kids shows — even 'Sesame Street', acquired in a five-year deal in 2019, was not pulling strong numbers, and about 200 of its back episodes went too. De-cluttering: everything pulled was infrequently watched, and executives feared the combined service would recreate Netflix's problem of too much content burying the best titles.
The logic differed from the 'Batgirl' cancellation earlier that month, which used a merger tax benefit to write off an unfinished film; these shows had already launched, so no write-off applied. Removed programming could instead be licensed to other streamers, adding revenue by subtracting content, and a tighter catalog could help justify a higher price for the combined offering. HBO Max had also laid off 14% of its staff that same week, including many in its unscripted division.
Why it worked
Shows already produced still cost money every period through residuals and back-end payments, so removal saves cash immediately.
Kids and family viewing never materialized on HBO Max; the combined service would chase adults — HBO's male-skewing drama plus Discovery's female-skewing reality.
Piles of little-watched content create the 'Netflix problem' in which too much inventory buries the best titles.
A decluttered, Discovery-enriched catalog could support a planned price increase for the merged service.
What can be applied
Content already paid for is not free to keep: residuals accrue and low-viewership originals crowd out discovery, so cutting catalog can serve strategy better than hosting everything forever.
Aftermath
The 36 titles came off HBO Max by the end of Friday, 19 August 2022, and the 14% staff cut, including much of the unscripted division, had happened the same week. Warner Bros. could license some removed shows to other streaming services for a second revenue life. As of the reporting, the combined HBO Max–Discovery+ service was still on track for a mid-2023 US launch, with CEO David Zaslav weighing a price rise.