After more than a year of cancellations and layoffs at HBO, it looks like the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, is increasingly committed to generating revenue quickly. According to the news website “Deadline”, Warner Bros. Discovery is seriously considering licensing some of the original series from HBO to the Netflix.
Deadline's sources claim that this is a financial move that traditional execs from HBO disagree, but that perhaps it is the only way (and the most necessary) to boost the profits. However, it is possible that the agreement will not come to fruition, as nothing has been made official between the streams.
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One of the shows being mentioned in this potential deal is “Insecure,” starring Issa Rae, which will air on HBO for five seasons through December 2021. Other series that have already ended could follow the same path, but none have been concretely mentioned.
It is noteworthy that the highest probability of agreement is that nothing would, in fact, be exclusive, that is, Warner Bros. Discovery could still air the series on its own platform.
While this isn't the first time a TV series or movie has aired on two different streaming networks, this would be the first major streaming deal for 'Warner Bros. Discovery' since they sold a bundle of canceled shows to free television networks such as Roku and Tubi earlier this year.
Among the shows sold were "Westworld", which was recently cancelled, as well as unaired episodes of Joss Whedon's series "The Nevers".
An example of this practice is the movie “Avatar: The Way of Water”, which is available on both Disney Plus and Max, thanks to specific contractual agreements.
While it's unusual for a streaming service to sell content to competitors, this practice has been common for years. In 2014, Warner Bros. licensed some of its most popular shows to Amazon Prime Video, including “The Sopranos” and “The Wire”. It's only been in recent years, when streaming services have started creating their own exclusive catalogues, that the sale of shows to competitors has declined.
However, last year David Zaslav made it clear that Warner Bros. Discovery was open to doing business and not sacrificing its bottom line just to secure more subscribers for HBOMax.
However, there were some problems, such as an embarrassing credit problem that caused the company to apologize for categorizing writers, directors and other professionals under a single heading of “creators”, irritating the writers of the WGA.
While there are valid reasons to criticize Zaslav's "open for business" approach, it's rare to be able to watch high-quality shows like HBO's renowned across multiple platforms.
In today's world of streaming services, where original content is confined to specific (and paid) spaces, this approach offers a better experience than investing time and effort in programs that get canceled for purely financial.
