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Speaking at a Morgan Stanley Investor Conference last week in San Francisco, global head of streaming and games at Warner Bros Discovery Jean-Briac Perrette said Max can quickly become one of the top three streaming services in markets such as Australia amid its global rollout.
Perrette said the company would ābe crazy not to do itā as it was already āleaving money on the tableā with its current license deals.
While Warner Bros declined to comment further on the specifics, multiple sources familiar with the plans, speaking anonymously for confidentially reasons, said it could be expected as early as the first three months of 2025, to coincide with a packed content schedule.
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That is very bad news for Foxtel and Binge.
Theyāre basically on notice now. Theyāve got the date so they need to create and commission strong content ready for early next year to try and keep as many subscribers as possible.
I feel like Max will be a beast with in a year here.
I hope their accountant has some confidence, otherwise I think they might be in danger of launching with some a couple of quality shows, but people wonāt sign up for an annual, itāll be serious month by month churn for their show of choice.
What they will need to achieve is diversity. Something for everyone. Drama, comedy, childrenās, reality, sports programming such as documentaries and even news specials.
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I honestly think WBD is better (given their reported financial difficulties) to stick with Binge/Fox as an established player in this market rather than take a chunk of a smaller pie.
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Iām not so sure. I imagine (at least I hope!) the sums have been done and checked thrice, and WBD have determined they will make more money selling their content directly to consumers, rather than going through Foxtel as they do now. If any studio (other than Disney!) can make it work it would be Warners/HBO.
Also are we to assume Max will launch in NZ? They could easily build on the existing ThreeNow infrastructure. If so then bye bye Sky.
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10 years ago I would agree with this but now not so much. Itās far to competitive now to bother hanging around with Foxtel/binge they need to hurry up and join in.
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Will sign-up. Would like to see Eurosport Australia on Max
Obviously their access to HBO shows etc is a big positive and I could see it being more successful than P+ for example - just not sure a late (comparatively speaking) entrant to the market is going to be doing Netflix/Disney numbers. I also donāt know what kind of fee they get from Fox for their content and how much of an uplift they could expect.
I wouldnāt assume anything about the WBD operation in NZ - I suspect they want to exit that market entirely if they can. Australia is probably a big enough market where the numbers can make a difference by launching, NZ not so much.
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No, I suppose not - but what would? Netflix was a phenomenon because it introduced streaming to the world. Disney was a phenonemon becauseā¦ well, itās Disney. Yes, this would make WBD third placeā¦ but a very comfortable third place.
Again, Iām not so sure. Yes, Australia could and probably will make a difference with its numbersā¦ but NZ is a very easy way to bulk up those numbers (however slightly!) and if the infrastructure for an Australian service is there already (both technical with ThreeNow and practical with the AU sales/customer service) it would seem to make sense to expand that to NZ at little extra cost. As for Three, I suspect once the local shows are all axed it will cost WBD very little to run, and it and its siblings could keep ticking over with the ad revenue from repeats and inventory.
If Foxtel / Binge lose some of the content that will end up on Max, they need to look at what Stan are doing and commission / produce a very large slate of Australian productions. Despite all the predictions that Stan would fail, and wither against the might of overseas services, it holds its own and has some great content.
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Hello Foxtel
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What does it mean?
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The countries include Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
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Cannot wait!
Iād be surprised if, in markets like the UK, Germany and Australia, there arenāt any deals made with Sky and Foxtel to sell Max as part of their own packages when it eventually launches. I imagine that might keep them sweet once they lose all that content from their own channels and services.
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