HBO Max

Breaking News

Just announced, presumably in connection with the Warner Bros deal announced last night.

I'm not sure the two are that connected. Presumably to begin with, they'll be updating countries that already have an HBO streaming service to HBO Max.

It's going to be an interesting situation in the HBO/Sky deal territories like the UK - where Sky have exclusive HBO rights (and thus HBO don't have an OTT/SVOD presence), and thus any new HBO Max operation would, confusingly, just be non-HBO content if it were to launch? I wonder if they will create a separate Warner brand for them - or do a deal with Sky?

The Sky/HBO deal dates back to 2010, and was renewed in 2014 and 2019 - with an expectation it would run to 2024?

Seems it will be just Latin America and central and Eastern European countries for now. I don’t think they’ll be launching in the U.K. & Ireland, at least not as HBO Max, while the deal with Sky is still in place. (There is a suggestion that they eventually want to be in “190 countries” which may put the long term future of the Sky deal in question but the current deal is said to run to 2024 so that may be a bit down the road).

WarnerMedia have hinted since day one Latin America was the first port of expansion- probably because AT&T have comms businesses in some of those territories... and the likes of HBO Nordic, Espana and Portugal already have a lot of third party content (and a number of local originals) alongside the HBO product so pivoting them to Max is probably very very easy without having to invest in more third party content or repatriation of their own stuff.

The new Sky deal was reported to be five years - and a lot of the HBO library content on Sky have expiry dates of 31/12/2025. I’ve heard 2024 bandied about but that may because the deal was signed in 2019 though i might be inclined to think we’re at the end of the previous contract with the new agreement yet to kick in proper.

The only countries who have signed new WarnerMedia deals in the last year are the Sky countries, Canada (Bell/Crave) and Australia (FOXTEL/Binge)... putting Italy and Germany to the side, all of those are English speaking territories and fairly mature markets... I could easily imagine WarnerMedia letting those partnerships continue especially if those deals (especially in Sky’s case) also help supply co-production for English language content (Foxtel’s deal also includes local production provisions) that can bolster the international platforms. (Also Bell license the HBO Brand in Canada for their platforms so again, there is probably little urgency to move forward there).

Adding to that think another issue with the U.K. is the amount of co-production done here over the last 5 years by HBO with Sky and the BBC... there is a fair amount of programming in the last few years such as Avenue 5, Chernobyl and His Dark Materials that HBO would not have access to as the BBC and Sky would naturally want to exploit themselves (And there are still new co-pros coming like The Baby, Landscapers and recently rumoured, Brideshead Revisited with the BBC).

Granted I could be wrong about everything but there seems to be a lot of factors suggesting WarnerMedia might let the existing deals run and collaborate with those partners more closely.

The cheap git in me hopes the "190 countries" doesn't include us.

Now TV is what £8 (plus Boost), to cover the vast majority of non-Disney properties.

The realistic git imagines Now TV losing contributors like Hulu did, where it goes from one sub to four.

There is a point where it makes more sense to sell the content rather than sell directly you'd imagine, though there is the argument for the flip side too.

I think you slightly mis-characterized what a co-production is .

Have I? Maybe the phrasing is incorrect but if I’m not entirely mistaken HBO don’t tend to own those shows in the UK - the likes of Sky (if they board as a partner or co-producer) now usually retain rights such as video sales, physical discs, third party licensing and SVOD in their respective territories.

In what way?

Co-production in the UK usually delivers the UK domestic broadcast and streaming rights for a specified window (3-5 years in most cases) to the UK co-producer, unless unusual deals have been made, and removes those rights from rival streaming services or output deals operated domestically with other outlets/broadcasters within the UK territory.

In most cases UK co-productions with HBO will involve HBO and Sky or the BBC co-commissioning a third party indie (who may also retain some rights in some territories after the BBC's licence period has ended) to make the show, with production input from both commissioning broadcasters over elements such as casting, episode structure, budget, production talent etc.

As the BBC also has a production arm, in some cases the BBC and a third-party broadcaster or OTT operator may co-commission BBC Studios to act as the production arm (distinct from BBC Public Service/BBC Content co-commissioning the production alongside a co-production partner), and BBC Studios (as a commercial arm) may also co-fund some co-pros (separate to BBC Public Service/BBC Content funding). (Good Omens was a BBC/Amazon co-copruduction, produced by BBC Studios for instance. Doctor Who has been a co-production in the past too, made by BBC Studios Wales).

Good Omens was an interesting example as Amazon had negotiated first-run rights on their OTT platform in the UK, with the BBC taking public service rights in a later window in the same territory. This isn't always the case.

In the case of His Dark Materials, that was commissioned by the BBC in 2015, HBO came onboard a lot later.

Yep - didn't want to get too detailed, but there are stages in commissioning too. For instance a single commissioning broadcaster may kick off a commission with some development funding (to develop scripts, story structures etc.) and that in turn allows the production to be shopped around other broadcasters. Once they come on-board, sometimes later when more funding is needed, or when budget decisions around casting, directing, location and 'scale' choices are being made. (i.e. a BBC-only commission may run with lower-cost, UK-friendly, talent, but if additional co-production money arrives then that will then potentially allow the production to sign-up bigger-ticket, globally-recognised talent etc.)