The Potential Warner Bros. HBO Deal Looks Like Cable With More Steps
Once upon a time, HBO was considered the most premium offering in all of prestige cable. For a network that proudly boasted the tagline, "It's not TV. It's HBO," the entire appeal came from the exclusivity offered by some of the greatest talent working on what would become the greatest shows ever made. You couldn't simply watch "The Sopranos" or "The Wire" on any old channel — the whole point was that it was HBO or nothing. Times are a-changin', however, especially with David Zaslav now running things (into the ground, some might say) over at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Not content with completely gutting the invaluable institution of Turner Classic Movies or selling off half of their music publishing assets from various movies and shows – even their own signature fanfare theme (and during their 100-year anniversary celebration, no less!) – the troubled studio has now set its sights on arguably their most famous and successful division of them all.
Deadline has the details on how Warner Bros. Discovery plans on licensing numerous HBO titles over to heated streaming rival Netflix, starting with Issa Rae's "Insecure" series and likely including many more when it's all said and done. Vulture reports that "Ballers," "Band of Brothers," "The Pacific," and "Six Feet Under" would also follow suit. This is only the latest cost-cutting maneuver by executives focused on the studio's bottom line above all else, as Deadline describes this as a "financial move" that faces significant backlash from actual artists who still call HBO home. Such shows would still remain available to stream on Max, for those worried about the streaming service cutting loose even more of their own exclusive movies and series. Still, HBO originals popping up over at Netflix will certainly be a sight to see.
Changing times
Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! The Streaming Era makes for some strange bedfellows at times, and none may be stranger than seeing Netflix and HBO come together for the sports equivalent of a major-market team trading away their star player for little more than cap space in a shameless salary-dump deal. That's where Warner Bros. Discovery finds itself these days, with CEO David Zaslav (the highest-paid Hollywood executive over the last 5 years and now the face of wage inequality amid the ongoing writers' strike, mind you) essentially strip-mining the once-storied studio and selling it off for parts, all to save a buck wherever possible.
If this feels like the worst-case scenario for all those who cut the cord in the hopes of avoiding such headache-inducing quagmires typical on cable TV, well, that's because it's pretty much exactly that. Now, instead of paying one catch-all price under a single umbrella to "consume content" as you see fit, subscribers have to shell out money for multiple streaming services that no longer offer nearly as much exclusivity as they once did. This deal, you could say, is getting worse all the time.
In fact, in a separate Deadline report, the outlet reiterates the fact that Disney itself isn't shying away from similar licensing agreements. Although Disney CEO Bob Iger maintains that this will only apply to those outside of their crown jewels of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, we've clearly crossed the Rubicon and have entered uncharted streaming territory. This increasing trend only highlights what we already knew — that the unstable streaming space is always subject to the whims of their billionaire rights-holders, with viewers left high and dry. As we've reiterated over and over again on multiple occasions, invest in physical media, folks!