First Details on WarnerMedia’s Streaming Service Arrive
Don’t let all the focus on Disney+ overshadow the fact that WarnerMedia has their own streaming service arriving in 2019 as well. And they’re bringing the big guns, as they’ve announced that viewers will have access to over 42,000 hours of content when it arrives.
Deadline recently attended the most recent Television Critics Association meeting, and during that event, they saw Kevin Reilly – who is the Chief Creative Officer behind the Turner and WarnerMedia direct-to-consumer platforms – discuss the plans for the streaming service in the most detail we’ve had since it was first announced. He stated that all the major WarnerMedia brands (including HBO, DC, Looney Tunes, Turner, The CW and CNN) will shift their content over to the service, while also sending a thinly-veiled threat to Netflix that viewers wouldn’t be able to watch Friends on the existing streaming giant for much longer.
The focus of the streaming service, at least initially, is going to be on getting that massive library of content in one place as opposed to developing new service-exclusive content. However, that’s not to say that more won’t be made, as executive Sarah Aubrey is set to lead development on original content starting this Spring. Reilly explained the approach that WarnerMedia is taking as follows:
“It will not all come from within WarnerMedia [but] as is the case with every business today, we’ll look at ourselves first. Our beta version of the service will not have original content on it but you’ll see that in 2020 and then ramping up. You can expect it to be in all verticals that we’ve identified here: kids and family, teens, young adults and adult category.”
Reilly also specifically took a moment to mention that all-new DC content was being developed for the new service. This suggests that the existing DC Universe app has an uncertain future, and that it’s shuttered to become a part of the new service. If that’s the case, then all existing content being developed for the streaming service will continue to be developed under the WarnerMedia app, which will likely have more eyeballs placed upon it due to covering a larger umbrella of material. Conversely, Reilly remained unclear about whether or not people paying for HBO will have to buy a second service at full price or if they’ll get a discount, but he described the process as being “a seamless consumer experience” when both are offered together.
WarnerMedia’s streaming service – which still does not have a name internally – is set to arrive in the final quarter of 2019. The service will have three tiers for consumers: one focused purely on movies, one focused on movies and original programming, and one with everything across the WarnerMedia spectrum, along with some additional licensed content thrown in there.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
