The new leadership at HBO came from Discover. They have a stable of brand names they could have used (Max came from the Cinemax collection, known in the US for

The new leadership at HBO came from Discover. They have a stable of brand names they could have used (Max came from the Cinemax collection, known in the US for it's "After Dark" soft porn movies, aka "Skinemax"). From news reports and interviews with the leaders involved, it appears that new guard wanted to have something new they could own and take credit for, and HBO was owned by the previous regime. None of Discovery's marques were strong enough, and the $$ to get Discover as a brand into the right place was high. So, least of all evils, given their problem: scrub HBO off the name, make it one of many brands in the app, and hope "Max" on its own, with some marketing, can expand to fill the gap. If it works, Discover team takes credit. If not, Discover team blames holdovers from HBO days and says that this was just an intermediate step on the way to a brand new experience that will launch "real soon now". Lots of problems with this approach, but business isn't always rational.