MAX to launch in Australia in 2025
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service MAX will launch in the first half of 2025.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
It’s official.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service MAX will launch in Australia.
A direct-to-consumer model will launch in the first half of 2025 as the media giant confirms a range of different strategies for the region, with telcos, streamers or pay-TV platforms.
Speaking at the APOS media and entertainment conference in Indonesia, on Wednesday, James Gibbons, president of APAC at Warner Bros. Discovery said, “In the coming weeks and months there will be many announcements. We will be flexible and diverse as to how we go about it. There will be a mixture of direct service and partnership models. Our goal is to reach the fan base.”
In Australia HBO content has been the pride of Foxtel / Binge’s drama slate, having renewed a multi year deal in 2020 and 2023.
“We have had a long-standing and really important relationship with Foxtel and I think the time has come for us to expand that into the DTC [direct-to-consumer] space.”
Upcoming new MAX titles include Duster, The Pitt, Booster Control, Paradise Lost and Waller.
Industry rumours suggest Amanda Laing, Foxtel Group Chief Commercial and Content Officer, who departed this month, could be an ideal candidate to head up MAX for the ANZ market.
Source: Variety
- Tagged with Booster Control, Duster, Paradise Lost, The Pitt, Waller
23 Responses
What would happen with Warners’ library across various paid and free streamers in Australia? Immediate termination upon MAX commencement (such as with Nine and Stan due to Disney Plus when it first launched)? Or let rights lapse on Netflix, Prime, Binge, Stan, Nine, etc? As in the vast back-catalogue shows and movies.
Not going to be subscribing. Mr Perrette was interviewed by Concrete Playground and said
“We know how well our content does on both existing legacy platforms, and it drives a significant amount of the viewership.”
“So the demand is there, and there’s unquestionably easy access, because ultimately we don’t have a huge amount of local originals we have to invest in. There’s not a lot of other costs.
Hopefully for those that want to subscribe the price is fair and it has a good catalog of content. Will wait and see.
If Max were looking for Aussies to be excited about this, they should see the disappointment of yet another streaming platform.
Like everyone else, sigh, great, yet another streaming service.
I understand why Foxtel keeps adding streaming providers to their set-top boxes, it’s a compelling and convenient offer to have everything, as they say, “all in one place”. However has Foxtel ever tried to negotiate cheaper deals with streamers to pass-on to their subscribers and keep them glued-in with discounted bundled services? If more and more gets shifted from Foxtel to individual streaming services, there would have to be a better reason to stay as a Foxtel customer than just the convenience when nearly every TV these days is a smart device capable of installing those streamers’ apps.
Will it be bundled together with Disney Plus as it is in the USA?
I’ll keep buying box sets of TV on DVD as long as I can, know it’s a dying format but how many subscriptions do u need to watch a show u like? One season on some platform then next one on another… No I’ll stick to owning my own media thanks!
What’s your plan after the inevitable happens within the next decade? Physical tv and movies are disappearing before our eyes so quickly.. I always get a little forlorn when I walk into a JB Hi Fi, one of the last major places that still has a decent range, and see that section shrunk to just a few aisles. Just 5 or 6 years ago I used to walk up and down each aisle loving the range… now it’s being replaced by board games and overpriced merchandise… they have us over a barrel do the streamers.
Oh god no not another streaming subscription, enough is enough, agree with the others we don’t need more and then they don’t put all their content on there as they sell off some to others as well, makes it a mess to find what content you are wanting to watch.
Foxtel has become less attractive over the last few years and the loss of BBC was a last gasp.
With the emergence of MAX I will most likely drop Foxtel as the demise of WB product will be the end of my interest.
I personally hope that the arrival of MAX will bring TCM back into Australia.
What hopens to all the HBO shows that are currently on Foxtel/Binge?How long does Foxtel’s deal with HBO last for?And will we see shows running concurrently on both platforms next year?
Too early to have definitive answers, but as a general rule, where a broadcaster has a title it generally remains for the life of the show. It isn’t clear how exclusivity may also be affected or whether titles will appear on two platforms. That would depend on the contracts. Foxtel has previously referred to the “optionality” of its deals -that could mean MAX has the option to launch with identical titles. New titles would go to MAX which is why I listed them.
Thanks for the information,David.
Thanks for the information,David.
What happens,I meant to say in my original post.I forgot about the new edit button here.Lol.
David’s covered new seasons for existing shows, but as far as the back catalogue goes the vast majority will disappear at the end of the year (per Foxtel Go). Seasons look to have a ballpark 4 year window after the final episode of a season airs, there will be undoubtedly some exceptions (weirdly the Leftovers remains into 2025), but as a general rule if anyone wants to watch any HBO shows/seasons that aired in 2020 or before watch it by December 31.
Examples: Sopranos, GoT etc disappear in their entirety; some shows like Succession will lose seasons (1 & 2), but some (3 & 4) will remain. Recent shows like White Lotus & House of the Dragon will still have all past seasons available to view.
Oh come on…. you’re going to expect me now to pay another service for new HBO titles while existing ones go on Binge. Either buy out Foxtel and take over or go away. There is absolutely no reason for Max to come into Australia other than to double the price of the same content we already get via Binge.
Australian content – gone. I expect Collin From Accounts, The Twelve etc etc to be their last seasons next year. While I wont say there has been anything fantastic in Australian Content since Wentworth finished – it shouldn’t fall on ABC and SBS to be the only creators of local content.
And lastly – I am sooooo tired of all these services coming here and then deciding to hold onto some of their content compared to the rest of the world. I can only see another American company doing the same. Makes illegally downloading things seem like the easier option
“Anything fantastic since Wentworth”
Just one: Mr Inbetween. (Co-prod by FX though)
As frustrating as foxtel is, Binge is actually priced competitively. Let’s hope we don’t get US prices for Max.
How may this impact Stan and Paramount+ which both contained many WB titles
I really hope Paramount just dies here. It is by far the most awful place for new content.If they lose their library they are doomed
Foxtel’s upfront on October 17 has suddenly become the one to watch.
The reaction then to Foxtel losing exclusivity to HBO content will be studied for years to come.
If only Brian Walsh (who secured HBO content exclusivity for Foxtel long ago) were still with us to witness this moment…
Another nail in Foxtel’s coffin. Kayo will be the only thing holding them together in a few years. Hopefully, funding will dry up for Sky”News” at some point, too.
*rolls eyes* Yay, just what we need another streaming service. The person who re-opens video stores and has all the movies there, so we don’t have to hop from place to place to find what we want to watch, will absolutely make a killing. Keeping track on who has what this month and where is getting exhausting.