Courage the Cowardly Dog is no longer available on HBO Max. It is one of two popular Cartoon network titles, along with What’s New, Scooby-Doo, that were removed from the platform July 31 after their most recent license deals expired and were not renewed.
The move is part of an ongoing focus on adult and family programming at HBO Max and a move away from children’s content. It marks another strategy shift for the Warner Bros Discovery streamer.
HBO Max, which has easy access to the libraries of such sister WBD companies as Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation, first signaled a lower dependence on kids content in 2022 when a slate of children’s animated series were removed from the platform.
Things changed a year later, after the streamer was renamed as Max, with a new push in the kids space via such projects as Peter and the Wolf, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and Tiny Toons Looniversity.
Then late last year, Max ended the deal for Sesame Street original episodes and most library content. And now, with HBO back in the name of the platform, it is once again not focusing on kids fare, with those shows considered lower priority when they come up for renewal, sources said.
New kids animated series that premiere on Cartoon Network will still continue to find their way to HBO Max including Toad and Friends (Season 1C), Silly Sundays (Season 1C) and Iyanu (Season 1B), all slated to become available on the streamer later this month.
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