i don’t see binge going anywhere - its essentially streaming foxtel with the backing of news corp.
if anything, i see stan being sold off and rebranded to something like HBO Max Australia
What a crock of shit. They both seem to be doing just fine. Plenty of original, Aus content coming out of both of them too.
4 Likes
Why on earth would Nine sell off the one part of the business that is actually growing revenue.
Max likely to partner up with Binge as Binge currently has the Max / WBD content
3 Likes
People still not understanding that streaming and only streaming is the permanent future.
3 Likes
I reckon Nine are after Binge and Kayo from Foxtel’s sell off.
Binge’s business model will fundamentally change when HBO content exits the platform. Until now, it has been able to keep a lot of people hooked on the progressive release of premium HBO content throughout the year.
Backing up the HBO stuff is a collection of high quality local content - easily the best out of Stan and P+. It skews more premium with things like Love Me while also tapping into the younger demos with Colin from Accounts, etc. They’re reaching people with disposable income. Binge’s commissioning of local content has been consistently great, where as P+ is patchy and limited and Stan churns out low quality shit hoping quantity keeps people as subscribers rather than quality.
So without HBO, Binge really has one option, invest heavily in the kinds of local content it is already making. Scaling this up to double/three times their current output to make up for the drop in HBO would be hugely expensive. I don’t see it being profitable.
Nine could try and go for Binge just to kill a competitor to Stan. This would be a huge loss because as I said, Stan’s originals are reliably terrible.
I expect News will be selling Binge and Kayo as a combo deal, which means Kayo comes with huge costs for its AFL rights. Getting AFL might be tempting for Nine but its very exxy.
Despite HBO coming here and cutting Binge’s grass, News would have some kind of relationship with them. Discovery buying Binge and a portion of Kayo might be a compelling deal? Then Binge gets merged into discovery.
Wonder if ITV would be interested in some of this, given they exited Britbox recently and know the Australian market laps up British content.
3 Likes
Who says this is happening
None of this is happening
It’s correct that Max will come to Aus sometime next year which will have Discovery and HBO content but I’m not sure where you got the information that they are buying Binge and own a part of Kayo…? First I’ve heard of that.
1 Like
To the best of my recollection, News Corp was considering selling its entire media bundle as a package deal, meaning that any prospective buyer of their Foxtel stake would also acquire their interests in Kayo and Binge as part of the transaction.
Cricket rights might be a consideration for Nine as well, given their previous 40+ year relationship with the sport. However, the fact that both AFL and Cricket rights are currently joint deals with Seven could complicate matters. If Nine were to acquire Foxtel/Fox Sports/Kayo, they would likely want a Free-to-Air component included for both sports.
It’s difficult to imagine Seven and a potential Nine-backed Foxtel working together on either rights deal without some form of infighting or legal action between the two.
2 Likes
HBO’s streaming boss reveals when Max will launch in Australia (afr.com)
HBO’s Max teases Australian arrival again (thenewdaily.com.au)
It’s called reading the tea leaves.
Poor writing on my part, I meant to say Discovery acquiring Binge is an option for them.
1 Like
Max is coming. But there is no confirmation WBD content will leave Binge.
1 Like
2 Likes