Warner Bros. Will Combine HBO Max and Discovery+

[Demon_Skeith]

The two arms of HBO’s streaming slate will be coming together as one, a desperate move as the company reported some losses thanks to its parent Warner Bros. merger with Discovery that was first announced in 2021.

Following the bombshell announcement that it would be killing the nearly-completed feature film Batgirl, the company now says HBO Max, along with its slate of shows and movies, will soon merge with Discovery+ and its reality programming.

David Zaslav, the head of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a Thursday investment call they want to be “flexible toward user preferences,” adding “We have no intention of being beholden to any one in particular, or to a specific business model.”

Jean-Briac Perrette, Discovery’s CEO, said that while streaming is a “critical” part of their strategy, there are more consumer segments to milk. The name of this combined service will be announced closer to launch, he said.

“We recognize that both of our existing products have shortcomings,” the CEO said. “HBO Max has a competitive feature set but has had performance and customer issues. Discovery+ has best in class performance, and consumer ratings, but more limited features.”

 

[Sharon]

That's awesome. I actually really like Discovery + but only took advantage of the free trial didn't think it was worth subscribing separately.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

This isn't a good thing, specially with Discovery’s CEO not really on the side of seeing stuff made but rather for profit.

It sickens me that Toonami is now owned in this massive ownership and might be the end of the block within the year

 

[froggyboy604]

Hopefully, the merger means there will be more good shows once the merger is finished.

 

[Artisan Vistra]

This isn't a good thing, specially with Discovery’s CEO not really on the side of seeing stuff made but rather for profit.

It sickens me that Toonami is now owned in this massive ownership and might be the end of the block within the year

If it's for profit then something has to be made right? People aren't going to want to watch old content again and again.

 

[Grungie]

It sickens me that Toonami is now owned in this massive ownership and might be the end of the block within the year

I’m surprised it was still around, as it’s been irrelevant for over a decade. It’s death announcement will be like the iPod touch where most people will say “wait, it was still around?”

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I’m surprised it was still around, as it’s been irrelevant for over a decade. It’s death announcement will be like the iPod touch where most people will say “wait, it was still around?”

It doesn't have to be irrelevant, in better hands Toonami could do more but will most likely go down with the rest of cable tv.

 

[Grungie]

It doesn't have to be irrelevant, in better hands Toonami could do more but will most likely go down with the rest of cable tv.

You're the only person in over a decade I've seen online that even mentions its existence that isn't people talking about nostalgia.

In all honesty, I don’t even know what it could do. After anime watchers heavily left watching it on TV, Toonami’s basically just a history of truancy. “Oh, that show you watched dubbed 2 years ago and already forgot about? We’ve got it now”.

This isn’t like being into binge culture and you have to wait a week to watch the next episode, it’s “I can either watch this now, or hope that in the next few years, Toonami might have it”.

 

[Sharon]

I think Discovery + was struggling and this was their way of staying afloat.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

You're the only person in over a decade I've seen online that even mentions its existence that isn't people talking about nostalgia.

In all honesty, I don’t even know what it could do. After anime watchers heavily left watching it on TV, Toonami’s basically just a history of truancy. “Oh, that show you watched dubbed 2 years ago and already forgot about? We’ve got it now”.

This isn’t like being into binge culture and you have to wait a week to watch the next episode, it’s “I can either watch this now, or hope that in the next few years, Toonami might have it”.

Can't help it if you don't get around the net more

Toonami is still a valuable icon and would be a hit on a online streaming setup, doing more AMVs, interviews, previews and hyping up new shows from Japan.

I think Discovery + was struggling and this was their way of staying afloat.

Possibly, but I wish the merger was blocked.

 

[Grungie]

Can't help it if you don't get around the net more

Toonami is still a valuable icon and would be a hit on a online streaming setup, doing more AMVs, interviews, previews and hyping up new shows from Japan.

Sorry to tell you that R/Toonami is the only canine community that cares about Toonami. The rest of the anime community only treats it as a form of nostalgia and are surprised it’s still around.

Toonami isn’t doing any hyping up, as they’re notoriously late, even for their dubs. Most people saw the dub on streaming services long before Toonami airs the first episode.

How sad is it, that I’ve bought Blu-ray releases of shows before they air on Toonami, and they feature the dub?

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Sorry to tell you that R/Toonami is the only canine community that cares about Toonami. The rest of the anime community only treats it as a form of nostalgia and are surprised it’s still around.

Toonami isn’t doing any hyping up, as they’re notoriously late, even for their dubs. Most people saw the dub on streaming services long before Toonami airs the first episode.

How sad is it, that I’ve bought Blu-ray releases of shows before they air on Toonami, and they feature the dub?

Well first off, Toonami doesn't do dubs, they just air them. And Toonami is more than just nostalgia, the brand name does hold power. Since I know you don't watch the block, let me bring you up to speed.

Some ten years ago, [adult swim] was doing Saturday night anime, no block or anything special, just aired their anime without having to spend any extra. And yet for one night, they did an april fools joke night and brought back Toonami, dubbing it as a night that no 90s kid slept:

Now the block was long gone dead, bringing it back for one night falls in line with the nostalgia, but that is still no reason to bring it back fully. And yet the community and ratings said otherwise and a network that only cares about ratings/money invested into it. Since being brought back, Toonami has gotten on its name alone:

A few more TIE events
An anime series on TOM
Original created series like Black lotus, fena pirate princess, more FCLC and others.
Used to host special events like DC animated stuff.
Toei pretty much giving one piece to the block to air

Now like I pointed out, the name has power, if I had billions to spend, I buy the Toonami rights and make a sort of Youtube like site for it to hype up anime from Japan, use it to allow funimation/sentai ect to advertise merch and series releases, AMVs, game reviews, ect. and I'm sure it do a lot better on an on-demand streaming platform.


Even if the community treats it as nostalgia and 'surprised' it is still going, still means they are following and thinking of Toonami that still has hype going for it.

 

[Grungie]

Well first off, Toonami doesn't do dubs, they just air them. And Toonami is more than just nostalgia, the brand name does hold power. Since I know you don't watch the block, let me bring you up to speed.

Some ten years ago, [adult swim] was doing Saturday night anime, no block or anything special, just aired their anime without having to spend any extra. And yet for one night, they did an april fools joke night and brought back Toonami, dubbing it as a night that no 90s kid slept:

Now the block was long gone dead, bringing it back for one night falls in line with the nostalgia, but that is still no reason to bring it back fully. And yet the community and ratings said otherwise and a network that only cares about ratings/money invested into it. Since being brought back, Toonami has gotten on its name alone:

A few more TIE events
An anime series on TOM
Original created series like Black lotus, fena pirate princess, more FCLC and others.
Used to host special events like DC animated stuff.
Toei pretty much giving one piece to the block to air

Now like I pointed out, the name has power, if I had billions to spend, I buy the Toonami rights and make a sort of Youtube like site for it to hype up anime from Japan, use it to allow funimation/sentai ect to advertise merch and series releases, AMVs, game reviews, ect. and I'm sure it do a lot better on an on-demand streaming platform.


Even if the community treats it as nostalgia and 'surprised' it is still going, still means they are following and thinking of Toonami that still has hype going for it.

You didn't really prove anything. Citing what they did 10 years ago means nothing for today. Even 10 years ago when it was revived, people were initially excited, then got upset that they were showing the new stuff. Even back then people only wanted to watch the same handful of shows they remembered from Toonami, and had no attachment to watching the new Toonami. That's what I'm talking about with nostalgia. They just wanna watch Yu Yu Hakusho, Gundam Wing, DBZ, etc on it. They don't care to watch whatever new show is out on it. It's like if they brought back Saturday morning cartoons on local channels. You'll see people our age whining about "where's <insert show from our childhood>?". They don't really care about the actual format.

You also have to take into consideration the anime streaming landscape was different 10 years ago, especially for dubs. Crunchyroll was pretty new, and their library wasn’t that big either. Netflix really only had older shows. Funimation was partnered with Hulu, but not everything was on there. Or you had to buy the Blu-rays. People were already talking about ditching TV for streaming, but you still had a large amount watching traditional TV. So Toonami reviving 10 years ago made sense. It’s also pretty dumb boasting their accomplishments 10 years ago like that means much today. Blockbuster was a huge deal several years ago!

I know they don't do the dub, they just air it. I was talking about them boasting about "world premiers", and those "world premiers" were available on paid streaming services for quite awhile. Dubbing companies release simuldubs where they come out fairly quickly after the subs, or just release it all at once. Then months (or even longer) later Toonami finally gets the show. If a show I'm interested in is currently available, why do I need to wait to watch it on cable TV? Like I mentioned in the last post, it's pretty sad I owned the Blu-ray (with the dub) long before Toonami did their "world premier". Further solidifying their truancy. If they aired simuldubs, or the dubs actually premiered on Toonami (even if it’s at the same time as streaming services), then sure. With the current format, it really begs the question of who cares. Even going on R/Toonami, it's people openly admitting that they're watching it due to brand loyalty. If they advertised themselves like Nick at Night, Boomerang, or TV Land, then sure, that is the point of those. No, it’s advertising “world premiers” of shows that have been available for quite awhile, so it’s basically like a false advertisement of being “hip and current”.

Also most of the anime community cut the cord on cable ages ago, so how does having a "powerful brand name" to cater to the anime community on cable TV have much staying power or relevancy? Bringing several months old anime to a cable channel sure is going to bring the anime community back in droves.

Even when you’re trying to court new fans, they probably have a Netflix account, they can watch stuff on Netflix. They probably don’t have traditional TV, why pay for a TV service for anime if they can load up their already paid for Netflix account?

 

[Demon_Skeith]

You didn't really prove anything. Citing what they did 10 years ago means nothing for today. Even 10 years ago when it was revived, people were initially excited, then got upset that they were showing the new stuff. Even back then people only wanted to watch the same handful of shows they remembered from Toonami, and had no attachment to watching the new Toonami. That's what I'm talking about with nostalgia. They just wanna watch Yu Yu Hakusho, Gundam Wing, DBZ, etc on it. They don't care to watch whatever new show is out on it. It's like if they brought back Saturday morning cartoons on local channels. You'll see people our age whining about "where's <insert show from our childhood>?". They don't really care about the actual format.

You also have to take into consideration the anime streaming landscape was different 10 years ago, especially for dubs. Crunchyroll was pretty new, and their library wasn’t that big either. Netflix really only had older shows. Funimation was partnered with Hulu, but not everything was on there. Or you had to buy the Blu-rays. People were already talking about ditching TV for streaming, but you still had a large amount watching traditional TV. So Toonami reviving 10 years ago made sense. It’s also pretty dumb boasting their accomplishments 10 years ago like that means much today. Blockbuster was a huge deal several years ago!

I know they don't do the dub, they just air it. I was talking about them boasting about "world premiers", and those "world premiers" were available on paid streaming services for quite awhile. Dubbing companies release simuldubs where they come out fairly quickly after the subs, or just release it all at once. Then months (or even longer) later Toonami finally gets the show. If a show I'm interested in is currently available, why do I need to wait to watch it on cable TV? Like I mentioned in the last post, it's pretty sad I owned the Blu-ray (with the dub) long before Toonami did their "world premier". Further solidifying their truancy. If they aired simuldubs, or the dubs actually premiered on Toonami (even if it’s at the same time as streaming services), then sure. With the current format, it really begs the question of who cares. Even going on R/Toonami, it's people openly admitting that they're watching it due to brand loyalty. If they advertised themselves like Nick at Night, Boomerang, or TV Land, then sure, that is the point of those. No, it’s advertising “world premiers” of shows that have been available for quite awhile, so it’s basically like a false advertisement of being “hip and current”.

Also most of the anime community cut the cord on cable ages ago, so how does having a "powerful brand name" to cater to the anime community on cable TV have much staying power or relevancy? Bringing several months old anime to a cable channel sure is going to bring the anime community back in droves.

Even when you’re trying to court new fans, they probably have a Netflix account, they can watch stuff on Netflix. They probably don’t have traditional TV, why pay for a TV service for anime if they can load up their already paid for Netflix account?

You do realize that Toonami does have world premiers right?

Attack on titan
the new FLCL
Fena
Black lotus
Shenmu
and I think space dandy,
and the upcoming Uzumaki and Complex C

will all air or did air before Japanese airing and before any other streaming service can air them.

When they do use the premier title, it is the first time the show has ever aired on tv which other stations do the same as well for thier shows and movies.

Plus the block has always stood for 'building a better cartoon show' something for people to look forward and tune into. Not everyone has seen or own a old show, so a free channel airing it is a score to anyone.

Though if the block don't take a more free line streaming stance soon, it is going to get suffocated by the merging anime and TV industry.

 

[Grungie]

You do realize that Toonami does have world premiers right?

Attack on titan
the new FLCL
Fena
Black lotus
Shenmu
and I think space dandy,
and the upcoming Uzumaki and Complex C

will all air or did air before Japanese airing and before any other streaming service can air them.

When they do use the premier title, it is the first time the show has ever aired on tv which other stations do the same as well for thier shows and movies.

Plus the block has always stood for 'building a better cartoon show' something for people to look forward and tune into. Not everyone has seen or own a old show, so a free channel airing it is a score to anyone.

Though if the block don't take a more free line streaming stance soon, it is going to get suffocated by the merging anime and TV industry.

It’s not a “world premier” if they weren’t the first to air it. It’s simple as that. Especially if we take the current climate of streaming into account here.

It’s really dumb to take a show that’s been available on streaming for quite awhile and brag that you have a “world premier” because you’re the first one to have it on US network television.

I understand you have a loyalty to it because it introduced you to anime, but you need to get over that it’s not as relevant as you’ve convinced yourself it is. It’s basically a dead format to the vast majority of the community who has ditched cable television years ago.

It’s also a cable block that’s useless to anyone outside of the US (and probably Canada). So you’re talking about a super niche audience here. An anime fan in North America that also still has cable television and watches dubs.

Wow, such high value property here.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

It’s not a “world premier” if they weren’t the first to air it. It’s simple as that. Especially if we take the current climate of streaming into account here.

But they did air everything on that list first. Funimation/crunchyroll especially can't air any new Attack on Titan until it airs on Toonami, everything else, though not contract obligated (I think), still aired first on Toonami as well.

 

[Grungie]

But they did air everything on that list first. Funimation/crunchyroll especially can't air any new Attack on Titan until it airs on Toonami, everything else, though not contract obligated (I think), still aired first on Toonami as well.

That’s the thing, they didn’t. Attack on Titan was available on Funimation’s site before it aired on Toonami. It was when they were still hosting their videos on Hulu before they got their own web player.

They were first to air it on network television, but were still on the Funi website. Which leads to my main point, why should people care about Toonami if they don’t own cable television (hell, a lot of the anime community don’t even own a TV) and it shows stuff after it premiers online? You’re really drawing people in when you gotta convince someone that they have to wait to watch something that’s already available online.

It’s pretty sad when you make these threads on these shows Toonami is premiering, and a lot of them have me sitting there going “but I finished this already…”. What’s really the incentive to get people to watch it at this point? To cater to a small percentage of people who watch anime, have cable TV, and don’t watch shows through streaming? That’s a niche marketplace.

You haven’t done much to really sell Toonami as a real viable platform. Boasting about their accomplishments 10 years ago really sells it.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

That’s the thing, they didn’t. Attack on Titan was available on Funimation’s site before it aired on Toonami. It was when they were still hosting their videos on Hulu before they got their own web player.

They were first to air it on network television, but were still on the Funi website. Which leads to my main point, why should people care about Toonami if they don’t own cable television (hell, a lot of the anime community don’t even own a TV) and it shows stuff after it premiers online? You’re really drawing people in when you gotta convince someone that they have to wait to watch something that’s already available online.

It’s pretty sad when you make these threads on these shows Toonami is premiering, and a lot of them have me sitting there going “but I finished this already…”. What’s really the incentive to get people to watch it at this point? To cater to a small percentage of people who watch anime, have cable TV, and don’t watch shows through streaming? That’s a niche marketplace.

You haven’t done much to really sell Toonami as a real viable platform. Boasting about their accomplishments 10 years ago really sells it.

No wait I did botch that on the attack on titan, it's just the first right to air the english dubbing of it before Funimaiton can, my bad on that.

Getting back to the point, I boasted about one thing 10 years ago that wouldn't normally return something to active use but it did. Everything else was done in the last few years. And as per the director of the block:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1541164817251287042

They still have lots of things they can do and hope to do if Discovery doesn't bring the axe down on them next. No old nostalgia keeps getting new projects, so something there is worthwhile.

 

[Grungie]

Getting back to the point, I boasted about one thing 10 years ago that wouldn't normally return something to active use but it did. Everything else was done in the last few years.

I don’t think you understood my point about the streaming landscape for dubbed anime was vastly different 10 years ago, so it made sense, 10 years ago.

It’s a pretty poor argument of pointing out relevancy if your first major point is boasting about accomplishments from 10 years ago.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I don’t think you understood my point about the streaming landscape for dubbed anime was vastly different 10 years ago, so it made sense, 10 years ago.

It’s a pretty poor argument of pointing out relevancy if your first major point is boasting about accomplishments from 10 years ago.

Not really considering when it was brought back some years ago the whole concept of a 'block' was dying/dead. And now in the present it is still going and being funded.