Getty Image
UPDATE: Max has clarified via a statement that the news alerts updates, saying they have “no intention” of pushing news alerts onto peoples’ screens.
Seemingly intent on making the product as unusable as possible, reports indicate that Warner Bros. is going to test sending Max users CNN-like news alerts while they’re watching content on the platform.
In a report detailing the new CNN channel that’s set to debut on Max, Variety revealed that Max is planning a test a feature that would push news alerts onto users’ screens while they’re watching content on the service.
For example, while watching something like The Batman or The Sopranos, a ticker might pop up on the bottom of the screen with a news update along the likes of “Donald Trump indicted for a historic fourth time, becoming the first former President in American history to be charged with multiple crimes.”
HBO/CNN
CNN Max is likely to evolve over time. Among the features the company will try out are ways of alerting Max viewers to breaking news while they are watching something else on the service, whether it be an HBO series, a Turner Classic Movies selection or an old episode of Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” [via Variety]
The reports about the news alert feature come just a few months after Warner Bros. decided to rename the streaming service from HBO Max to Max, a move that’s been widely mocked by the entertainment community.
Previously considered by some to have the best content of any streaming service, Max is now a jumbled mess that features prestige HBO shows like The Wire and The Sopranos alongside lowbrow content such as Naked & Afraid: Castaways and 90 Day Fiance: UK.
Currently, Max is the 6h-most subscribed-to streaming service in the world and the 4th-biggest in the United States with about 82 million subscribers, which is only less than Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.
At this time, Max offers three different plans: $9.99/month with ads, $15.99/month ad-free, and $19.99 for a package called “ultimate ad-free”.