The Names of Your HBO Channels Just Changed
If you’re still holding onto that cable package you might be a little confused scrolling through the HBO channels today. A whole bunch of the ones you’re used to seeing are getting a facelift, complete with new names.
Here are the new names and their former identities in parenthesis
- HBO Hits (formerly HBO2)
- HBO Drama (formerly HBO Signature)
- HBO Movies (formerly HBO Zone)
The company also rebranded the Cinemax family of channels. Those news names are
- Cinemax Hits (formerly MoreMAX)
- Cinemax Action (formerly ActionMAX)
- Cinemax Classics (formerly 5starMAX)
According to a press release, HBO made the move “to better reflect the respective content offerings” of each of these channels.
READ MORE: Everything New on HBO Max This Month
The HBO 2 channel premiered in 1991 and apart from a period where it was rebranded “HBO Plus“ in the late ’90s, it’s remained that way for more than 30 years. HBO Signature also launched the same year. HBO Zone came on the air in 1999.
The rebranding of these various HBO channels comes less than four months after the company announced they were changing the name of its Max streaming service — only two years after they had changed the service’s name to Max from its original monicker, HBO Max. But what’s in a name, really? A channel that airs the 1979 Bette Midler movie The Rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
If you are an HBO Max subscriber who also watches live HBO programing through their app, you will also see these new names reflected in the “Channels” section as well. I know change can be scary but eventually we’ll all come to accept HBO Hits as an acceptable replacement for HBO2.
Now if they’ll only bring back these opening credits, which made every movie played on HBO feel like the most epic motion picture in history.
