Exclusive: Warner Bros. Discovery Still Planning Its Own Free Streaming Service in 2023, Despite Licensing Shows to Roku, Tubi
Things must be pretty busy at the corporate offices of Warner Bros. Discovery, these days. The company is barreling toward its stated goal of launching a combined HBO Max-discovery+ service this spring, and announced on Tuesday that it was licensing a number of shows that had previously been pulled from HBO Max to ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services the Roku Channel and Tubi.
That news led The Streamable to speculate that WBD may have been stepping away from creating a free ad-supported TV (FAST) service of its own. WBD executives have been eyeing such a service for months, and CEO David Zaslav called such a FAST platform as “a real opportunity for us” in November. As it turns out, those plans are still alive and well at WBD.
A company spokesperson told The Streamable, “WBD has not changed our previously stated intention of launching our own FAST service this year. No timing or details to announce yet, but we haven’t changed our strategy.”
That certainly settles the question of whether the company is giving up on its own FAST service, but it does raise additional questions. First, users might wonder what content could be on its way to such a service, given that so many WBD shows and movies were licensed to Tubi and The Roku Channel.
Users shouldn’t worry about there not being enough content to warrant a separate WBD FAST service, however. The company has hundreds of shows and thousands of movies to stock its own FAST platform with, and recent cancelations and removals like “Titans” or seasons 16-31 of “Looney Tunes” would make excellent free streaming channels. WBD also owns the content library of discovery+, another fantastic potential source for a future FAST service to pull shows from.
Related: Ten FAST Channels WBD Should Consider Launching in 2023
But when can users expect to see such a service? It may be a while, as the company is seemingly focusing its efforts on getting the new combined HBO Max/discovery+ service reportedly titled Max ready to launch this spring. However, the WBD did tell The Streamable that the plan is to launch s FAST platform this year, so it would make sense for work to begin in earnest on that project once the combined premium platform is up and running.
In the meantime, WBD could continue to license underperforming content to third-party streamers. This will allow the company to have its cake and eat it too; pulling in new revenue with select titles while getting ready to launch an in-house FAST service that will generate even more advertising dollars for the company.
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