Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s quick revenue approach has been evident after a year of brutal cancellations and layoffs at HBO. According to reports, Warner Bros. Discovery may be licensing HBO Original Series to Netflix as a financial move to shore up the bottom line. The show rumored to be the subject of the agreement is Issa Rae’s Insecure, which lived on HBO for five seasons until it ended in December 2021. However, the deal may not see the light of day, as it is still in its early stages.
Details of the Licensing Deal
Although the deal is not exclusive, Warner Bros. Discovery would still be able to show the series on its own platform, Max. This would not be the first TV or film airing on two different streaming networks. Avatar: The Way of Water, for instance, is currently available on both Disney Plus and Max. Furthermore, last year, Warner Bros. sold a package of canceled shows to free ad-supported television (FAST) networks, including Roku and Tubi, which included the recently canceled Westworld and unaired episodes of The Nevers.
Streaming Services Selling Content to Competitors
Although uncommon, the concept of selling content to competitors has been around for years. In 2014, Warner Bros. licensed some of its biggest shows to Amazon Prime Video, including The Sopranos and The Wire. Before that, it syndicated edited versions of some shows to TBS and TV Guide. However, in recent years, streaming services have sought to create their own fiefdoms of content, leading to a slowdown in the practice.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Open for Business” Approach
Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery made it clear that they are “open for business” and would not sacrifice their bottom line just to secure more Max subscribers. The current rumored licensing deal comes after the recent rebranding and relaunch of HBO Max as Max, which saw a new pricing tier for 4K video. However, the rollout was rushed, resulting in an embarrassing credits issue for which Warner Bros. Discovery was forced to apologize.
While there are plenty of reasons to dislike Warner Bros. Discovery’s “open for business” approach, being able to see high-quality shows like those HBO is known for on multiple platforms is rare as first-party content gets hoarded in streaming foxholes. Furthermore, this deal is a nicer story than a movie being canceled for tax reasons. Although the deal may not see the light of day, it shows that Warner Bros. Discovery is still willing to make deals that may be unpopular with HBO’s old guard but are necessary to shore up the bottom line.
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