More like it was previously determined by someone who doesn't work there anymore that there would be a new app, and and no one is allowed to Deviate from the System Architecture Specification Trace Matrix.

Rewriting doesn't require a new listing on really any of these platforms. They could have rewritten every single thing and still made it an update.

I'm guessing there was some contractual thing (perhaps cable related) around the HBO name or else someone made a very poor choice.

Yep. Probably liscensing and future merger related. “The current plan is to unify the HBO Max service and the Discovery+ service under a single brand” https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/hbo-max-discovery-plus-m...

The entire thing reeks of bad decisions.

The new CEO from the Discovery side of the merger cancelled a bunch of HBO Max programming that was doing well, because their background is in cheaper to produce reality content. It seems fated to join the very long list of bad media mergers.

What I do not understand about business is basically everything, but I still don't really understand why they felt the need to remove existing programs.

I can understand canceling Close Enough and Infinity Train because they're too expensive, but I don't really understand what it's hurting for them to just say on the servers and continue to be streamable. Hard drive space is pretty cheap, especially at HBO's scale.

I've heard it's possibly a tax writeoff, but then I've seen conflicting reports claiming that that's not the case, so I have no idea. How much ongoing costs were involved with keeping the animated shows I like online?

It's certainly taxes. But no idea how that works.

Yeah i think it allows them to write the ‘loss’ of the content on their balance sheet at some estimated value it would have cost them if they hadn’t made it themselves.

That sort of management-by-spreadsheet without any of the humanity or long-term vision almost every corporation used to have seems to be an ongoing trend, especially in media, and it’s showing. Discovery, who have McDonnel-Douglassed HBO and are behind this mess, are a particularly good example of the kind of garbage heap that leadership style gets you.

I don’t have any direct insight into this but I’ve read elsewhere that removal of first party content from streaming services could also be because contracts with actors/writers/other crew give them a cut each time it’s shown. By removing the content from streaming it’s no longer getting shown and generating income for those involved.

There's also the possibility that royalties were negotiated poorly. Some back catalog shows could cost more to show than they make due to things like music royalties or other production royalties.

They don't want to continue to have to pay residuals

Would changing developer accounts cause it? Like maybe Discovery insisted on a new ADC account?

You can transfer apps between developer accounts on both Apple and Google's platforms. It's not the easiest process in the world but far easier than inconveniencing users.

https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/transfer-...

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

You can rewrite it every day from scratch, and still replace the old app on the app stores. Duh.

> Often new management wants to put their stamp on things. I've been in situations where we've had to do major redesigns because a new leader wanted to leave their mark.

I call this "New Vice President Urination Syndrome." The stank gets on everything until they learn to use the bathroom.

I can tell you that the old app (on AppleTV) was a bug farm. It was constantly crashing and hanging. I often had to force-quit it. I haven't had enough time with the new app, to see if it's better.

To be fair, many of the other apps also suck. I think it may be because Apple allows TV apps to be written in JavaScript, and some of them are almost certainly poor ports of Web apps.

Neither the old app nor the new app feels like it was written by someone who uses Apple TV.

My pet peeve on the last version was having a carousel movie expand when you pause on it so that it moves things around and hides what you were looking at.

My pet peeve on the new one is a normal swipe on the remote blows through 80% of the carousel items instead of just one.

Neither annoy me as much as Amazon’s hijacking of the touch pad during video so that I can no longer tap the pad to see how far through the movie I am.

I get it, everyone wants their spin on things. But all I want is a usable, consistent experience. It drives me bonkers.

Same on my (admittedly older) Samsung smart tv, but I wonder how much of that was due to resources devoted to writing the new app as opposed to fixing the old one. The new one is 100x better in terms of a usability and generally just working.