HBO's no good very bad rebrand
16 May 2025

HBO's no good very bad rebrand

The Vergecast

About
Names are hard — but they don't have to be this hard. Nilay, David, and The Verge's Jake Kastrenakes start the show with some personal news, before digging into the monumentally silly thinking behind Warner Bros. Discovery re-re-naming its streaming service HBO Max. After that, and some more streaming news, we turn our attention to the gadget news of the week, including the long-awaited release of CarPlay Ultra and the latest announcements from the Android team at Google. Finally, in the lightning round, it's time for Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some debate on the future of Airbnb, and a brief party speaker update. Because the mystery continues.

Further reading:



It’s not Max, it’s HBO Max 




Max was an all-time bad rebrand

How HBO’s creatives survived corporate chaos

ESPN’s standalone streaming app launches this fall for $30 a month 

Fox One streaming service will arrive just in time for football season 

Netflix’s ad tier is growing really fast — and that means more ads

Netflix is bringing back Star Search as a live show

YouTube will stream an opening week NFL game for free 

Peacock’s NBA coverage will add an overlay with live shot stats 








Apple’s CarPlay Ultra is finally here, if you have a new Aston Martin

Apple’s fancy new CarPlay will only work wirelessly

Android 16 Material Three Expressive UI coming in beta this month 

Google’s splashy new Android UI is coming in beta this month. 

It’s Dieter!









Warner Bros. is launching a cinematic universe for brands




Here's How NBCU Is Integrating Brand Sponsors for SNL50


FCC threatens EchoStar licenses for spectrum that SpaceX wants to use



Airbnb’s new app has all of your vacation extras in one place




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