Warner Bros. Discovery May Start Licensing HBO Series To Netflix (Report)
In a strategic ploy to improve its bottom line, Warner Bros. Discovery is hopping into bed with its biggest competitor.
The newly merged conglomerate is in talks to license some of its biggest HBO titles to its rival Netflix, our sister site Deadline first reported. If the deal goes through, it would mark the first time in nearly a decade that HBO's original series would exist on another platform outside of its own corporate umbrella.
Set to be included in this new arrangement is Issa Rae's comedy Insecure, which ran for five seasons on the premium cabler and wrapped for good in December 2021. Other titles are being discussed, but remain TBA. Important in the agreement is that licenses would be set as non-exclusive, meaning that the affected titles would still be able to stream on WBD's own platform, Max.
According to the report, the move is primarily a financial one and has been receiving pushback from HBO vets on the inside. However, corporate financial consideration appears to be winning out, though talks still have a way to go before any dotted lines are signed. Nonetheless, partnering with Netflix is still a major strategy shift that could help WBD cut costs across the board. At the end of this year's first quarter, the merged company was looking at nearly $50 billion in debt, the main reason for its most recent round of layoffs.
HBO rarely licenses its original shows outside of its own corporate structure, but there are precedents for the move. A heavily edited version of Sex and the City was sold in syndication to corporate sibling TBS, while Curb Your Enthusiasm aired on TV Guide Channel and Entourage screened on Spike. In addition, series like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood and The Wire were previously licensed to Amazon before the existence of the company's own streamer Max (fka HBO Max).
Just last year, Max began purging HBO originals from their servers in another effort to save dollars. Series like Camping, Vinyl and Mrs. Fletcher were removed from the streamer, in addition to HBO Max originals Genera+ion, the adult animated comedy Close Enough and the children's late-night program The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo.
Would you like to watch HBO originals on Netflix? Which series do you hope make the jump? Let us know in the comments.