HBO and HBO Max have renamed some of their U.S. linear channels, effective immediately.
As a result of the changes, HBO2 will now be known as HBO Hits, while HBO Signature’s name has been changed to HBO Drama and HBO Zone has been rebranded as HBO Movies. Additionally, MoreMAX has been renamed Cinemax Hits, ActionMAX’s name has been updated to Cinemax Action and 5starMAX has become Cinemax Classics.
These changes have not only been implemented on HBO’s linear channel guide, but also in the HBO Max app’s live “Channels” section, which launched last year and gives subscribers the chance to stream live HBO programming. In a press release Thursday, HBO said the new names were devised to “better reflect the respective content” that its linear channels have to offer.
These updates, notably, come just a few months after HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, changed the name of its streaming service back to HBO Max. When WBD CEO David Zaslav announced that move at the studio’s annual upfront event in May, it immediately became a hot talking point online — not because of the name itself, but rather WBD’s apparent inability to settle on a single name.
The service launched as HBO Go, was rebranded as HBO Now and then again as HBO Max. In 2023, however, Warner Bros. renamed the platform again — this time to just Max — and it stuck with that name for two years before reverting back to HBO Max this summer.
“With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition,” Casey Bloys, HBO and Max Content chairman and CEO, said in May. “It clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for.”
