Around and around we go. Netflix, of course, began life only hosting content from other networks. However, since that time, streaming platforms have begun an arms race for the best original content. But now things are once again changing. Warner Bros. Discovery is negotiating licensing rights to HBO originals with Netflix. HBO, notoriously protective of its properties, created HBO Max as a streaming platform to house its work as a direct Netflix competitor. But now HBO Max has lost the HBO, and it seems like we may soon be able to turn to Netflix to stream some of HBO’s original series. What a wild world we live in.
According to Deadline, this would be the first time in a decade that HBO shows would be housed in a non-HBO service in the United States. Reportedly, Issa Rae’s Insecure is the first HBO title that may be licensed to Netflix in the deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. But others seem likely to follow. Deadline notes the deal has not yet closed.
Things in the streaming world have been taking turns of late. Recently, Max removed some HBO originals from its platform and housed them on FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels such as Roku and Tubi. At the time that seemed like a shocking play, but FAST channels are an entity different to Max. Netflix and Max, however, are both SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) platforms. And that makes this Netflix deal for HBO’s content a horse of a different color.
Netflix also recently collaborated with Paramount+ on a bundle offering for Verizon subscribers. It looks like streamers are more open to working together than they were just recently. But does this mark good or bad news for the consumer? We and, most importantly, our wallets will have to simply wait and see.