At the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit, AT&T CFO John Stephens shared some of the company’s plans for their upcoming Netflix-competitor. “I think of the D2C offering as an HBO-centric offerings, premium, premium, premium, with this whole inventory of owned assets that rests under WarnerMedia where there might be some Turner assets,” said Stephens.
In addition to Warner Bros. extensive library, the company is also considering including content from their comic-centric streaming service DC Universe, which has original shows like Titans and Swamp Thing. But what Stephens feels will separate their SVOD service is that the company can “build off of the quality and the umbrella of content capabilities, whether it be news, sports, & entertainment.”
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/October which Stephenson described last month as “a detailed look at the product, and that includes the breadth of new and existing content.”
It is expected that Warner Bros. shows like Friends would soon become exclusive to their streaming service. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said said “we will be bringing a lot of these media rights, licensing rights, back to ourselves to put on our own SVOD video product.”