HBO Max pins hopes on Friends and Harry Potter to win UK streaming war

## Summary
Photograph: Aidan Monaghan/HBO Max/PA View image in fullscreen A lot is also riding on HBO Max’s Harry Potter TV series, which has been brought forward for release from next year to this Christmas. Photograph: PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy “The key trigger point for HBO Max here will be the Harry Potter launch,” says Matt Trickett, the head of media at the data and research firm Ampere Analysis. “It is the first massive piece of intellectual property they have over and above movies. “They have put so much money into the series and it is completely exclusive outside of their Sky deal.” After years in lock-step with Sky with a series of TV and film deals , making the pay-TV company the “home of HBO” and negating the ability to launch its own streaming service, WBD finally struck a deal in 2024 to unpick its relationship. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy “We are at day zero,” says JB Perrette, the global head of WBD’s streaming and games business. “What we haven’t been able to do to date is have people come directly to us and get exactly what they want.” With HBO Max’s cheapest package priced at £4.99 a month with ads, it is under-cutting rivals Netflix, Disney and Paramount+ by £1. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy “It is £1 more per month than signing up for each of the streaming services separately, but consumers also get standard Sky TV,” says Jaanika Juntson, a research manager at Ampere. “The challenge for HBO Max is how many people will view its content, it is a different dynamic to those signing up for a service directly.” The strategy of signing partnership deals with former rivals is a relatively recent shift by streamers as the growth from more profitable direct sign-ups dries up.

## Article Content
A lot is also riding on HBO Max’s Harry Potter TV series, which has been brought forward for release from next year to this Christmas.
Photograph: Aidan Monaghan/HBO Max/PA
View image in fullscreen
A lot is also riding on HBO Max’s Harry Potter TV series, which has been brought forward for release from next year to this Christmas.
Photograph: Aidan Monaghan/HBO Max/PA
HBO Max pins hopes on Friends and Harry Potter to win UK streaming war
Warner Bros-owned brand’s late arrival to British TV prompts deals for viewers as battle for subscribers heats up
The launch of
HBO
Max into the increasingly crowded UK television market last week has prompted deals for consumers as former rivals team up amid a slowdown in subscriber growth.
The Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) streaming service hopes a competitive price for direct sign-ups and deals bundling the service through Sky will make it a must-have and not an also-ran, in a British TV ecosystem
upended by Netflix 14 years ago
.
In a media landscape where new and exclusive content is essential to winning and keeping customers, WBD is banking on a vast library of established hits and much-hyped new shows to secure a regular spot on screens.
View image in fullscreen
The Oscar-winning Michael B Jordan as Smoke and Miles Caton as Sammie Moore in the film Sinners.
Photograph: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc./PA
The service will feature
Warner Bros
films including the entire DC superhero franchise, Harry Potter, Sinners and One Battle After Another, as well as shows from HBO, the home of The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, The Wire and Succession.
It also offers an extensive archive of TV favourites including Friends, which has been unavailable in the UK since moving off
Netflix
at Christmas, and the Big Bang Theory.
A lot is also riding on the
Harry Potter TV series
– brought forward for release from next year to this Christmas – and titles such as The Pitt,
the medical drama starring ER’s Noah Wyle
, which took the US by storm last year but debuted in the UK on the new service.
View image in fullscreen
Friends has been unavailable in the UK since moving off Netflix at Christmas.
Photograph: PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy
“The key trigger point for HBO Max here will be the Harry Potter launch,” says Matt Trickett, the head of media at the data and research firm Ampere Analysis. “It is the first massive piece of intellectual property they have over and above movies.
“They have put so much money into the series and it is completely exclusive outside of their
Sky
deal.”
After years in lock-step with Sky with a
series of TV and film deals
, making the pay-TV company the “home of HBO” and negating the ability to launch its own streaming service, WBD finally
struck a deal in 2024
to unpick its relationship.
However, Sky
retains certain rights
including being able to broadcast any new series of shows that aired on its service before the end of last year, such as White Lotus, Euphoria, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. This makes new content such as Harry Potter and The Pitt all the more valuable.
View image in fullscreen
Zendaya in an earlier series of the HBO drama Euphoria.
Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
“We are at day zero,” says JB Perrette, the global head of WBD’s streaming and games business. “What we haven’t been able to do to date is have people come directly to us and get exactly what they want.”
With HBO Max’s cheapest package priced at £4.99 a month with ads, it is under-cutting rivals Netflix, Disney and Paramount+ by £1. And for those willing to pay £1 more monthly, all the new Hollywood releases will be available, instead of having to pay an extra charge to view each film.
However, WBD has also struck a deal to bundle HBO Max into a package through Sky – which also includes Netflix, Disney+ and NBC Universal’s reality TV-focused Hayu – for £24 a month.
View image in fullscreen
Noah Wyle, Isa Briones, Shabana Azeez and Katherine LaNasa star in the hit HBO series The Pitt.
Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
“It is £1 more per month than signing up for each of the streaming services separately, but consumers also get standard Sky TV,” says Jaanika Juntson, a research manager at Ampere. “The challenge for HBO Max is how many people will view its content, it is a different dynamic to those signing up for a service directly.”
The strategy of signing partnership deals with former rivals is a relatively recent shift by streamers as the growth from more profitable direct sign-ups dries up.
In 2020, the pandemic helped drive a 37% year-on-year increase in subscribers to the UK’s biggest streamers, but by 2022 this had tempered to a 20% rise and last year it was just 7%. Without the boost given by the arrival of HBO Max, growth would have been less than 5% this year.
View image in fullscreen
Teyana Taylor as Perfida in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-winning One Battle After Another.
Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy
It took
Netflix until 2018
, six years after launching i

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- This makes new content such as Harry Potter and The Pitt all the more valuable.
- Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy “We are at day zero,” says JB Perrette, the global head of WBD’s streaming and games business. “What we haven’t been able to do to date is have people come directly to us and get exactly what they want.” With HBO Max’s cheapest package priced at £4.99 a month with ads, it is under-cutting rivals Netflix, Disney and Paramount+ by £1.
- Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy “It is £1 more per month than signing up for each of the streaming services separately, but consumers also get standard Sky TV,” says Jaanika Juntson, a research manager at Ampere. “The challenge for HBO Max is how many people will view its content, it is a different dynamic to those signing up for a service directly.” The strategy of signing partnership deals with former rivals is a relatively recent shift by streamers as the growth from more profitable direct sign-ups dries up.
- Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy It took Netflix until 2018 , six years after launching in the UK, to bury the hatchet with Sky and become the first of the big streamers to offer a package combining their content.

### Areas for Consideration
- Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy “It is £1 more per month than signing up for each of the streaming services separately, but consumers also get standard Sky TV,” says Jaanika Juntson, a research manager at Ampere. “The challenge for HBO Max is how many people will view its content, it is a different dynamic to those signing up for a service directly.” The strategy of signing partnership deals with former rivals is a relatively recent shift by streamers as the growth from more profitable direct sign-ups dries up.

### Implications
- The Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) streaming service hopes a competitive price for direct sign-ups and deals bundling the service through Sky will make it a must-have and not an also-ran, in a British TV ecosystem upended by Netflix 14 years ago .
- Entertainment Inc./PA The service will feature Warner Bros films including the entire DC superhero franchise, Harry Potter, Sinners and One Battle After Another, as well as shows from HBO, the home of The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, The Wire and Succession.
- Photograph: PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy “The key trigger point for HBO Max here will be the Harry Potter launch,” says Matt Trickett, the head of media at the data and research firm Ampere Analysis. “It is the first massive piece of intellectual property they have over and above movies. “They have put so much money into the series and it is completely exclusive outside of their Sky deal.” After years in lock-step with Sky with a series of TV and film deals , making the pay-TV company the “home of HBO” and negating the ability to launch its own streaming service, WBD finally struck a deal in 2024 to unpick its relationship.
- And for those willing to pay £1 more monthly, all the new Hollywood releases will be available, instead of having to pay an extra charge to view each film.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers hbo, max, month topics. Notable strengths include discussion of hbo. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1585.