Warner Bros. Discovery rules out 2024 for streaming service in Australia
Asia-Pacific rollout of HBO Max and Discovery streamer won't include Australia at launch.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
Warner Bros. Discovery has ruled out 2024 for a stand-alone streaming service in Australia, depite a report this week in The Australian.
The report quoted Warner Bros Discovery’s western Pacific president and managing director James Gibbons plans for a combined HBO Max and Discovery Plus streamer.
“We are going to be launching our new streaming service in the US this year,” Mr Gibbons said.
“The first order of business is to really combine those services and make one ‘uber’ service that can target a wide audience.
“After that we’re going to be rolling that service out in the Asia-Pacific region from the second half of 2024, including in Australia.”
Such plans would be of concern to Foxtel which recently announced a new continuation of HBO content, but cannot rule out non-exclusivity once Warner Bros. starts streaming locally.
However the company has since clarified while it is launching in Asia-Pacific in 2024, it won’t include Australia just yet.
A correction today quoted, “It is not in our plans for 2024.”
8 Responses
I definitely wouldn’t have Binge if it wasn’t for HBO content, and I it is a service I switch off when there is no “must watch” content ( eg House of Dragon or Succession ).
Agree with comments about there already being too many streaming services, which is why I switch a few off for months at a time.
Foxtel will know what’s happening, there will be a clause in their contract, and WBD will keep them informed.
Binge has a lot more than just Warner content. It’s better off being on Binge with all the other content, instead of having to separate them.
100%.
And the price we pay for Binge is significantly cheaper than what Americans pay for HBO Max.
There are a few exceptions like Tokyo Vice but not in our best interest for another streamer. Of course many will ditch Foxtel/Binge entirely and not pay double, but still pay more.
Then… what even is Foxtel? Sports and News that’s it.
Do we really need HBO Max In Australia I’d rather HBO content stay on Binge I pay for enough streaming services
Agree, getting too expensive with so many streamers, please no more, time to be cutting back all the subscriptions we have.
I’m not watching anything HBO at the moment. A couple of WB shows Young Sheldon and The Equalizer but no idea what is happening with those. Why would WBD support Foxtel longer than necessary, rather than their own streaming channels? They have decided now is a bad time to launch, so they have sold their content to Foxtel until they are ready. Anything else will be cheaper than Foxtel.
Yes indeed, there must have been one or two phone calls made, Foxtel is providing Warner Bros with some valuable income and as an established satellite Pay TV streaming platform Foxtel has been releasing Warner Bros products for some time, they are a loyal customer. In my opinion, Foxtel will need to think ahead to the future (which I’m sure they have) as this current arrangement with Warner Bros may be subject to change sooner than was expected, global streaming services are actively competing with each other in a burgeoning global streaming market and HBO Max and Discovery wont want to delay any entry of their service into Australia for too long.