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Foxtel in new multiyear deal with Warner Bros. Discovery

Foxtel group remains the home of HBO with new deal for shows such as House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession & The White Lotus.

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The Foxtel Group has announced a new multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery spanning content from HBO, Max Originals, Warner Bros. and Discovery.

The renewed deal includes exclusive content rights across both Foxtel and Binge.

The agreement include current and future seasons of HBO’s titles including House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, Succession and The White Lotus, returning seasons of HBO Originals including Euphoria, True Detective: Night Country, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty and Perry Mason, Max Originals including And Just Like That…, The Sex Lives of College Girls and Peacemaker.

It also includes Warner Bros. series including The Flash, East New York and The Winchesters and movies including Dune 2, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, Barbie, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises and DC Universe titles.

Upcoming HBO Originals include The Idol, White House Plumbers, The Sympathizer with Robert Downey Jr. and The Palace with Kate Winslet, Max Originals Love & Death, Dune: The Sisterhood, The Batman spinoff The Penguin and Duster series by J.J. Abrams. Foxtel channels are Discovery, Discovery Turbo, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, CNN International, Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

Foxtel Group CEO, Patrick Delany, said: “This landmark partnership cements our position as the partner of choice to the world’s largest entertainment studios. We are delighted Warner Bros. Discovery chose us as we continue our long-standing partnership together with optionality at its core. A unique business model like ours that covers multiple platforms and brands means we can partner for the long term and together we will continue to entertain millions of Australians every day for years to come.”

The deal comes amid speculation of rumours of HBO launching a streaming platform such as HBO Max in Australia in the near future.

Foxtel Group Chief Content and Commercial Officer, Amanda Laing told TV Tonight, “The beauty of this deal is that it provides our partnership with optionality. What that really means is that our partnership continues, no matter what options Warner Bros / Discovery wish to pursue in Australia.

“We’ve been able to achieve that because we have such a unique group of assets in Australia. We can do things in this market that nobody else can do. We can offer partnership and deal structures that others can’t because we have multiple platforms, and we have different ways to monetise content, to find subscribers and to grow.”

As the ‘Home of HBO’ in Australia, securing the deal was crucial for the Pay TV provider given the lure of its drama brands.

“Episodes one to four of The Last of Us delivered a cumulative audience of more than 1.1 million viewers per episode. That is a huge number. It is growing week on week. Season Two premiere of The White Lotus, was a 550% increase on the Season One premiere,” said Laing.

“In the old days was a drama would premiere and then each episode actually might have fewer viewers. But in fact, we’re seeing the opposite effect. Some people might not tune in until the episode 4 has dropped.

“The viewing grows week on week with these great dramas.”

Warner Bros. Discovery President and Managing Director, Western Pacific, James Gibbons, also welcomed the deal.

“Foxtel Group are a long-term, historic partner for Warner Bros. Discovery in Australia, and we are thrilled to deepen this strong collaboration with a renewed agreement that reflects the scale and opportunity of Foxtel Group’s growing suite of products and customer base,” he said.

“As we look to drive strategic growth of our business across all platforms locally, this deal also provides optionality for future collaboration, including for our future streaming service, that will ultimately offer Australians greater access to the world-class storytelling and much-loved brands Warner Bros. Discovery is renowned for.”

11 Responses

  1. It would be nice if they’d take that WB deal and dig up some great old shows that are completely invisible on modern TV, show like Drew Carey, Murphy Brown, the TGIF sitcoms, but I suppose only want to watch “prestige” TV nowadays

  3. Warner Bros needs to make some money after experiencing big financial losses, so unlike Disney (also with big financial losses) it seeks additional income from selling its top original shows to companies like Foxtel who have been one of their long term customers. Warner Bros is going through a major restructure at the moment, especially regarding its big money franchise products (like DC, Harry Potter), and there’s also the recent speculation that movie maker Peter Jackson is in talks to make more Lord of the Rings movies, this would be a big deal for Warner Bros future. Any speculation of HBO Max being released in Australia may depend on how well Warner Bros new management team and creatives develop successful entertainment products in the future.

  4. With uncertainly in streaming market growing, Disney+ has dropped subscibers and Netflix budget plan with ads has tanked here, and of course SPA trying to take 20% of potentiality revenue WBD isn’t going to launch at streaming service here. Nine was speculating in Monday that it may only be till 2025, not that there’s any sour grapes there after they were outbid. Actually there’s nothing on that list I’d miss. I tried The Winchesters, ended up rewatching Supernatural because even though it’s 20 years old, Kripke, Hatchem, Shiban and Manners knew what they doing (replacing the X-Files). East New York is a mediocre cop show, and as it’s made by WB CBS might cancel it given it’s current ratings. White Lotus S1 and House of Dragons S1 TV’s most successful recent shows, they topped my most hated for the last two years. Peacemaker is a stupid action show that couldn’t make up it’s mind when to be serious and when to be very silly — made me laugh though.

  5. Sadly no. House of the Dragon 4K only screened on the linear Fox Movies 4K channel. It is not availble as 4K in their On Demand service.

    Wonder if the newWarners deal means CNN will finally go HD? I doubt it.

    1. I was sent a YouTube clip of House of the Dragon vs Shrek (serval versions exist) to compare (as some do) so to get a better look at the comparison I taped several episodes on Showcase but accidentally deleted some. So I then taped them on Box Sets. But not satisfied I needed an even closer look of Rhaenys and Meleys roaring at Alicent to compare with Elizabeth on Skrek so when desperation set in I resorted to Foxtel Go app on my iPad which I was able to satisfy my curiosity nicely. Maybe I need to borrow someone else’s glasses🤣

  6. Now they’ve got rid of Nat Geo I’m expecting to see repeats on Discovery and the next channel I’m tipping to go will be Animal Planet. Some of the others shows mentioned eventually get shuffled about various channels too. Next will be the reshuffling of the various packages that include those shows mentioned for Foxtel subscribers.

  7. That’s a shame, because Binge is the worst streamer in terms of navigation menus, recommendations, stability, picture quality etc. but it has by far the best content, and this deal means that will continue. Shows like The White Lotus are amazing – I just wish Binge would improve to the standard of its rival streamers. And yes I know I could get Foxtel and see them in 4k but that’s a lot more expensive and inconvenient.

    1. Agree. Binge also drains the battery on my laptop much more than the other streaming platforms.
      I was hoping Stan would win the deal but I think Murdoch would pay anything to stop that.

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