WarnerMedia is Expected to Pull Shows From Other Streaming Services For Their Upcoming Netflix Competitor
At the JPMorgan Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson indicated that their shows would soon be exclusive to their own streaming service. When discussing shows like Friends, Seinfeld, and The Big Bang Theory — Stephenson said “we will be bringing a lot of these media rights, licensing rights, back to ourselves to put on our own SVOD video product.”
That SVOD product has been described as a three-tier service — differing from Netflix’s approach. It is expected that the entry-level tier will focus on movies without original programming, while a second tier would include original programming and blockbuster, and a third tier which includes Warner-owned and licensed content. The company will preview the service in September which Stephenson described last month as “a detailed look at the product, and that includes the breadth of new and existing content.”
While media companies had licensed to services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu in the past, many have started to bring back a lot of that content exclusively to their own platform. In November, Disney will be launching Disney+ which will includes the company’s entire 2019 slate of films — which previously went to Netflix. NBCU indicated that the The Office, which is currently on Netflix, could move their own streaming service which will launch in 2020.