Zoinkt! After more than seven years, Boomerang, Warner Bros.’s cartoon streaming service, is ending. Discovery, as a standalone service.
Boomerang will close next month and its catalog of shows – including “Scooby-Doo,” “Looney Tunes,” “Tom and Jerry,” “The Flintstones,” “Courage the Cowardly Dog” and more – will become part of Max. “As of September 30, 2024, the Boomerang app and website will no longer be available,” the service said in a message on the customer website.
“Starting September 30, you can watch favorite Boomerang shows alongside Max’s full catalog of iconic series, hit films, new originals, breaking news and family favorites, including ‘The Amazing World of Gumball,’ ‘Teen Titans Go!’ Lego Batman’ and more!” Boomerang says in the customer message.
Starting next month, most Boomerang subscribers will be migrated to WBD’s ad-free Max tier, keeping their current subscription price for at least six months. Currently, Boomerang costs $5.99/month, while Max With Ads costs $9.99/month.
According to WBD, the classic cartoon channel Boomerang TV will continue to be available through partner pay TV providers.
The Boomerang streaming service originally launched in 2017, when the company was still called Time Warner (before the closing of its acquisition by AT&T and subsequent sale to Discovery).
Earlier this year, the company similarly shut down car streaming service MotorTrend+ and migrated its content to Discovery+ and Max. In that case, most MotorTrend+ customers were automatically transferred to Discovery+’s ad-free subscription.
Media companies once saw the opportunity to offer different interest-based streaming services at different price points. But they have increasingly turned to consolidating or bundling their streaming operations in an effort to cut costs, reduce churn and increase engagement.
For example, Disney has integrated Hulu with Disney+ and is aggressively pushing the discounted bundle on both services (as well as the three-way bundle that also includes ESPN+). Paramount Global has ended its standalone streaming services Showtime and Noggin and merged these content catalogs with the flagship Paramount+ streamer.