When HBO Max launched, one of WarnerMedia’s biggest selling points was having everything Harry Potter collection available to stream. Three months later, that is no longer the case.
An email detailing what comes and goes from HBO Max in August notes that all eight movies, from Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, will leave the service on August 25. It’s unclear where the movies will end, but there is already speculation if the movies will move to NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock.
This is because years before the launch of HBO Max, WarnerMedia signed an agreement with NBCUniversal that gave the latter company exclusive rights to Harry Potter series until 2025. Through that agreement, most experts assumed Harry Potter, one of the largest WarnerMedia properties, would not be on HBO Max for years to come. However, the night before HBO Max was released, WarnerMedia executives struck a deal with NBCUniversal to have all eight Harry Potter movie premiere on HBO Max. Now those same movies are gone. It’s unclear when those films will return, but The edge He has contacted HBO Max for comment.
While aspects of the deal are unclear, perhaps WarnerMedia only signed for a three-month period, it is an odd situation that points to the complicated nature of an industry with multiple streaming services. Peacock and HBO Max want to use their largest IP to attract subscribers, but NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia can generate additional revenue by withdrawing those movies and TV shows from others, such as Netflix and Hulu. For consumers, it means monitoring every transmitter every month.
the Harry Potter The franchise is just one example. In late May, just as HBO Max launched, customers learned about the movies in which HBO Max marketed its release, including League of Justice – He would be gone after just a month. League of Justice He was scheduled to leave the service for a period of time, but is scheduled to return to HBO Max sometime in 2020, a spokesman said. The edge at the time. While he would eventually return, the suggestion was that League of Justice – a central part of the DC Extended Universe that subscribers assumed was on HBO Max, would not be there for an unknown amount of time. WarnerMedia finally ended up extending the movie’s time on the streamer.
Peacock is in the same boat. NBCUniversal’s streaming service just launched last week, but it is already facing questions about the titles that came out on launch day. Heavy hitters like Shrek and the Jurassic Park trilogy, next to 2009 Fast and Furious, have disappeared or are about to leave. the Jurassic Park The trilogy will go to Netflix in August. Matrix The trilogy, which both NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia touted as a benefit for subscribing to their streaming services, will leave Peacock next month. It is not clear where Matrix The trilogy will end, but HBO Max seems likely. The Mummy and The Mummy Returns They are also gone. Business Insider A Peacock spokesperson told him that “movies regularly come and go from the platform.”
Conglomerates like WarnerMedia or NBCUniversal have valuable IP treasures. They can license that IP to other streamers like Netflix who are more than willing to pay for content that can attract subscribers. As long as NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia can earn additional revenue, and as long as it doesn’t negatively impact their own streaming ecosystem, they are likely to continue to do so. “Syndication” is an easy way for a business to earn revenue from the intellectual property it bought for a hefty fee.
This is something that industry experts call movie windows. Movies appear for a certain period of time and then unfold, only to reappear later in the year. While it’s standard practice, the way people consume entertainment is changing, and they notice that titles are coming and going now more than they may have had at the height of cable when the Star Wars the movies would be played on TNT for a certain period of time.
Things seem different now. People know when there’s a block of movies, especially high-profile titles like the Harry Potter collection or the Jurassic Park trilogy, suddenly they are no longer there. The media covers it every month. It’s almost impossible to simply enter or display entire blocks of high-profile movies and TV shows without anyone noticing.
What it really boils down to is that people don’t want to have to jump from one transmitter to another to find a title, especially when those conglomerates market their new streaming services with the promise that people could stream those movies or shows. television if they subscribe. Drink Harry Potter– If the movies end up going to a streamer like Peacock, that’s potentially another service that people have to sign up for to see something they thought was on HBO Max.
None of this explains movies like Hobbs and Shaw or Fast Five, which are produced and owned by Universal (the studio behind Peacock) but airing on HBO Max due to pre-existing agreements. Exclusive windows and deals are a hassle! Trying to keep up with everything is tedious, as my colleague Chaim Gartenberg recently wrote. Since the era of exclusive streaming really went into effect for the past half decade, the content is fragmented and the window titles just make it that much more frustrating to navigate. A decade ago, most things were on Netflix or Hulu; now they are everywhere.
Naturally, there are a couple of streamers who are not interested in windows. Netflix originals don’t quit Netflix, and the biggest Disney franchises aren’t going to quit Disney Plus suddenly for three months in a row; Star Wars Movies and Marvel Cinematic Universe live entirely in Disney Plus. For other streamers, including HBO Max, Peacock, and CBS All Access, they expect big and small titles to rotate in and out.
