HBO Max gets Chip and Joanna Gaines but may lose what makes it special

It should come as no surprise that the show is going to be hurting. It is a bigger success than Discovery Plus. It is also a part of Warner Bros. Discovery, a companyhelmed by David Zaslav, a man who loves reality TV and is okay with cutting channels if it means the accounting books. Just days after his company canceled Batgirl for a tax write-off, rumors are flying that he's going to lose another show, as well.

According to most recent estimates, the app had over 7 million subscribers. Discovery Plus had 22 million users before the merger. It is the third- largest service by subscribers. Even though the app is terrible and needs a complete redesign, it felt like proof that you don't need a lot of big movie and TV franchises to build a decent streaming business. The CEO of WarnerMedia chose to take a lot of things the company already had, such as a huge catalog of WB films and TV shows, and a big fancy bag of successful intellectual property.

Kilar risked upsetting Hollywood by giving some important incentives to customers stuck at home due to the Pandemic if they chose to subscribe to the service. The theatrical films were released on a day and date basis.

Zaslav didn't like Kilar's strategy. He didn't care that his company was merging with Warner Bros. and that it had a streaming service full of less popular shows. The strategy of streamers is to produceappointment TV to compete with others. Zaslav is on a show. He preferred the fast, cheap, and easy reality show to the more expensive scripted show when he built Discovery.

He said that the doom would come for the fledging HBO Max. He said on the call that their goal was not to win the spending war. The new company's CFO said on the call that they would seek content efficiency.

According to The Wrap, Warner Bros. Discovery may announce a major restructuring during its Q2 earnings call. An anonymous source told The Wrap that 70% of their development staff will be laid off.

The streaming service that hosts the library of HBO and Warner Bros. will be merged into a new app that will host all of the current content

At the 30th Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference in March, we were told that the two apps would be combined. He called for detailed and disciplined planning to transition customers from one service to another.

Plans have changed or someone didn't get the memo if the rumors are true. The company's last few days have been chaotic. The cancellation of Batgirl was a big deal. On the day after, a number of films were pulled from the service and others were canceled. The films are still available. They are now available for sale or rent instead of being stuck in the vault.

The Magnolia Network will be available on the streaming service. According to a statement from the couple, they will be bringing their next adventure, Fixer Upper: The Castle, to the show this September. There is a wall at Warner Bros. Discovery and things are moving very quickly.

It's not clear what that means for the current originals of the show. The shows Hacks, HarleyQuinn, and Our Flag Means Death have earned big praise. The sci-fi show raised by wolves was canceled after two seasons. Zaslav could repeat what his company did at The CW and begin with a second Red Wedding to chip away at the $55 billion debt the company incurred in the merger.

A sword hangs over the company's head. The linear cable business at the heart of Warner Bros. Discovery may be used as a shield to protect against competition from streaming services.