Warner Bros. Discovery will soon include CNN content on its streaming service Max (formerly HBO Max).
But the company also unveiled plans to test an obnoxious feature that would interrupt your streaming movie or TV show with CNN news alerts. Link to the Variety article here.
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."
If I'm watching a movie, I suppose I'd want to be alerted by some extremely actionable news item, like: Get to underground shelter immediately. But if it were interrupted by something like Trump Indicted Again, I'd cancel the service so fast it would make Wolf Blitzer's head spin. When I'm watching a movie, it's because I don't want to know about that crap.
From its puzzling decision to extract its identifiable brand from its name, to its boundless enthusiasm for removing content from its streaming lineup, Max seems like it's trying to drive away subscribers.
