Warner Bros Discovery is considering ways to launch and bundle its cornerstone streaming service Max in the United Kingdom once its programming deal expires with Sky, according to a report.
On Tuesday, the Financial Times said WBD has approached a handful of telecommunications providers, including Virgin Media, about bundling Max with their traditional cable TV offerings within the next few years.
The launch of Max would likely be timed to coincide with the expiration of a long-term licensing deal with Comcast’s Sky Group, which has been the exclusive distributor of HBO content in the United Kingdom through Sky Atlantic. (The channel also offers series from Paramount-owned Showtime.) The original deal with Sky was struck in 2019 — the same year Comcast acquired the satellite and streaming broadcaster — and runs through next year.
WBD is one of several American entertainment companies to focus their streaming growth efforts on international expansion, including in Europe, where bundling with cable and broadband Internet providers has been the preferred approach to scale.
For this reason, it comes as little surprise that WBD has held discussions with broadband and cable providers in the UK as it looks to strategize around the long-term distribution of its TV shows and movies, including original series from HBO, in the country over the next few years.
Apparently, WBD is also still engaged in discussions with Sky, and the two could wind up negotiating a deal that renews the broadcaster’s exclusive arrangement to HBO content beyond 2025.
“We’re in conversations with Warner, and it’s fair to say that regardless of the scenario we end up with, Sky customers will have access to Warner content on Sky platforms,” Dana Strong, the CEO of Sky Group, said at an industry conference in June. “It’s really just a discussion about how we integrate that and how we work together going forward.”
Strong’s comments leave open the possibility that, should WBD want to recapture distribution rights to HBO content and other intellectual property for itself, Sky could be one of several platforms that distributes Max through a bundled arrangement. In addition to the flagship TV service, Sky offers its customers a number of ways to watch streaming content through satellite set-top boxes and dedicated connected TV devices, including Sky Glass, its own brand of smart TVs.
In addition to Sky, Virgin Media and other broadband and cable TV providers, WBD has also held discussions with tech giant Amazon about distribution HBO or Max through its platform, the Financial Times reported. It wasn’t clear how this arrangement would take shape — whether it would involve Prime Video offering HBO shows and other WBD films and TV series, or if Amazon would simply serve as a reseller of Max in the UK, similar to its partnership with WBD in the United States.
