Warner Bros. Discovery Bet on All You Can Eat. Viewers Wanted More à la Carte.

Two years ago, the proposition seemed simple enough.

After the blockbuster merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, the leaders of the newly formed company announced plans to take two different types of programming and smash them together to form an unbeatable streaming service called Max.

HBO’s lean-in original content would be combined with Discovery’s vast collection of lean-back unscripted programming. HBO originals like “The Last of Us” and “Succession” would get people to subscribe and watch intently at night, and Discovery’s broad array of cable shows like “The Property Brothers” and “Naked and Afraid” would get them to stay and keep the streaming service running all day in the background.

“Together, they pack a really powerful one-two punch,” David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in 2023.

It is now clear that one of the punches never really landed.

On Monday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would split into two companies. One will operate the cable networks, like TNT and CNN, along with Discovery’s old properties, which include the Food Network, HGTV, TLC and the Discovery+ streaming app. The other company will own HBO, HBO Max, and the Warner Bros. and DC studio businesses.

Mr. Zaslav said the separate companies would be more nimble and aggressive to “unlock value.” There’s no doubt that the change is largely in response to the reality of today’s cable business, which is rapidly losing viewership, revenue and relevance. Competing against giants like Netflix with an all-you-can-eat streaming buffet, the thinking now goes, is not a viable game plan. NBCUniversal announced a similar spinoff of most of its cable properties last year.

But it is also a response to two years of streaming viewing data from Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship service. People who subscribe to Max watch HBO content like “The White Lotus,” studio movies, older Warner Bros. series like “Friends” and “The West Wing” — and little else. With the exception of a few properties, like programs from the ID cable network, subscribers have mostly ignored Discovery’s enormous assortment of lowbrow reality shows and unscripted lifestyle content.

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