Recently, there has been an uproar about the announcement from HBO Max merging with Discovery Plus starting in the Summer of 2023. There have been various tweets and posts about this situation from creators and fans about their disapproval of this decision. But why? According to HBO Max executives, the merge is being implemented for various reasons. CEO David Zaslov has stated that the merger between the two streaming platforms is necessary because it will include both adult and gender demographics. With HBO Max catering to male audiences and Discovery Plus catering to women, the combination will have increased the subscriber count to 92 million. The merge will also be a way to focus on reality and documentaries related to programming and not family or kids. Unfortunately, this leads to dozens of shows being either taken off HBO Max or canceled completely.
Effects on the animation industry
Shows like Close Enough, Infinity Train, Mao Mao Heroes of Pure Heart, OK K.O-Let’s be heroes, Victor and Valentino, and even Sesame Street were removed from HBO Max without any warning after the announcement of HBO Max and Discovery Plus merging. To HBO Max executives, shows that are meant for kids and family weren’t being watched by viewers whenever they use the platform to stream therefore creating clutter that makes it hard for the viewer to find what to watch. Yet these shows were written off as tax write-offs which are meant to save the company money. Years of hard work from creators, animators, writers, voice actors, etc. on these projects just to be whisked away never to be seen again.
Infinity Train is a huge example of this terrible fate of cartoons. Showrunner Owen Dennis-as well as many other creators-has expressed his concern, worry, and confusion on why his show was pulled from HBO Max. The show itself has already been through plenty of difficulties regarding its production on Cartoon Network and moving to HBO Max mid-way through. It was and still is popular and people still share and talk about it to this day. However, the Infinity Train wasn’t just removed from HBO Max. It was moved from all social media platforms in general. The social media posts, the soundtrack, and the YouTube pilot were all removed like the show was never created to begin with. What makes the situation worse is that Owen was not notified about this.
For many people, this was a terrible way to go about the precious shows that people obviously enjoy and cherish. It would be better if HBO Max were to license the shows at least and try to sell it to other streaming platforms so it can have a chance to still thrive. But to completely remove them for no one to see? It’s a bit much. This would only cause fear within the animation industry as the production of an animated show becomes less and less marketable as well as time consuming and expensive. Animated shows are now commonly being canceled within their first season or even during their development stage, especially on Netflix, which goes to show how much businesses truly care about the animation industry as a whole and the people who work in that industry.
To Future Artists
As an artist myself that dreams of creating their own show it was very discouraging to see and hear the situation and how it affects the animation industry. It not only affected them but also many upcoming artists who have the same dream and discourages them from doing what they love. It upsets and saddens me to see many creators lose their shows to this merge. Animation-creating a show in general- takes time. It takes dedication. It takes patience. It takes love, passion, and courage. Therefore, it is so important to speak up about situations like this. There might not be anything we can do to bring the shows back, but we can still post, retweet, make fan art and fanfics, etc. to keep these shows alive. To express how animation is important and truly means something to people all around the world.
So, if you’re an artist or a creative. Don’t let this situation get you down.
Keep drawing.
Keep writing.
Keep creating.