HBO is renting out one in every of its most beneficial collection to Netflix.
Each season of “Intercourse and the Metropolis,” the HBO comedy that aired from 1998 to 2004, will start streaming on Netflix for the primary time in early April, based on three folks acquainted with the deal.
HBO had a longstanding coverage of not licensing its reveals to Netflix till final yr, when it despatched over titles together with “Six Ft Underneath,” “Insecure,” “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific” and “Ballers.” A number of of those older collection rapidly leaped into High 10 most-watched streaming lists after they started showing on Netflix.
Now “Intercourse and the Metropolis,” which had been licensed to cable networks, will probably be provided on Netflix as properly. It was not clear how a lot Netflix pays to license the collection, one of the vital illustrious titles in HBO’s library.
Not like the opposite collection HBO has licensed to Netflix, “Intercourse and the Metropolis” is a part of an ongoing franchise for the corporate. The “Intercourse and the Metropolis” spinoff collection, “And Simply Like That,” streams on HBO’s streaming service and is getting ready manufacturing for a 3rd season. Executives stated final yr that “And Simply Like That” ranked as one of the vital watched unique reveals on its Max streaming service. The spinoff will stay obtainable solely on Max, two of the folks stated.
For Netflix, the event is additional proof that the streaming service is benefiting from the tight monetary scenario that lots of its rivals are confronting. HBO’s father or mother firm, the debt-ridden Warner Bros. Discovery, will get an infusion of money from the deal, whereas Netflix accumulates extra beloved TV collection and flicks, which retains folks subscribing.
“I’m thrilled that the studios are extra open to licensing once more, and I’m thrilled to inform them we’re open for enterprise,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief government, stated in a quarterly earnings name on Tuesday.
About 5 years in the past, media firms like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery pulled many standard TV reveals and flicks, like “Mates,” “The Workplace” and “Moana,” from Netflix. The businesses needed to make use of standard collection to induce folks to subscribe to their new streaming companies, like Disney+ (which debuted in 2019) and Max (2020).
However a number of of these firms, nonetheless making an attempt to make significant income in streaming and fighting nose-diving cable revenues, have reversed course. Warner Bros. Discovery has licensed the flicks “Dune” and “Prometheus” in latest months, and Disney is renting out films and older collection to Netflix as properly.
Many executives and trade analysts have concluded that the return to licensing underscores the diminishing odds different streaming firms face in catching up with Netflix.
One media analyst, Jessica Reif Ehrlich of Financial institution of America, stated final week that the rise in licensing reveals to Netflix was a “tacit acknowledgment that not all media firms will be capable of obtain Netflix’s world attain and scale in streaming.”
A analysis agency, MoffettNathanson, informed buyers this week that Netflix benefited from a surge of licensed content material final yr, pointing to “Fits,” the outdated USA Community present that turned an sudden streaming hit, and “Younger Sheldon,” a Warner Bros. Discovery sitcom that was added to Netflix in November.
“Even supposing this technique is making Netflix stronger and extra environment friendly, Netflix’s opponents seem prepared to feed the beast,” the agency stated.
Netflix reported on Tuesday it has 260 million subscribers worldwide. A number of rival streaming companies have solely a small fraction of that. And whereas many firms are shedding cash from their streaming companies, Netflix made greater than $5 billion in revenue final yr.
HBO has for years offered reveals into syndication whereas holding them again from Netflix. “The Sopranos” appeared on A&E, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was on TV Land. “Intercourse and the Metropolis” was carried by the E! Community, TBS and Amazon Prime Video.
“We now have to be protecting of the reveals that we have now which are profitable,” HBO’s chairman, Casey Bloys, stated at a information media occasion in November. “However I’ve labored in tv lengthy sufficient that syndication was once the pot of gold, that was the brass ring, that meant that your present was going to go on and have a life after its preliminary run.”
Mr. Bloys famous that a number of of the titles noticed an “uptick” in viewership on Max after they started streaming on Netflix. “Intercourse and the Metropolis,” like all of the HBO reveals on Netflix, may also proceed to be obtainable on Max.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to see more moderen reveals wherever else till years later, which is the syndication mannequin,” Mr. Bloys stated in November. “I’m snug with it, and up to now, it appears to be working. However once more, all people’s simply experimenting at this level, making an attempt to determine how a lot is an excessive amount of.”
