WarnerMedia today announced that it has named its
subscription-based streaming service, set to launch in spring 2020, “HBO Max.”
In addition, the company confirmed long-expected news that it has secured the domestic streaming
rights to the still-popular reruns of 236 episodes of “Friends” as of 2020, when Netflix’s licensing contract for the '90s show expires.
Netflix responded to the expected
news with a tweet saying: “We’re sorry to see ‘Friends’ go to Warner’s streaming service at the beginning of 2020 (in the US). Thanks for the memories, gang.”
The announcement describes HBO Max as “bringing together” HBO, original content and programming from Warner Bros., New Line, DC Entertainment and WarnerMedia’s many properties,
including CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, The CW, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth and Looney Tunes.
WarnerMedia didn’t announce pricing for the
upcoming service. The Wall Street Journal reported last month the company was considering charging $16 to $17 per month.
In addition to “Friends,” WarnerMedia said that
HBO Max’s 10,000 hours of content at launch will include exclusive streaming rights to “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “Pretty Little Liars.”
WarnerMedia also
announced movie production deals with Reese Witherspoon (an executive producer of current HBO hit “Big Little Lies”) and Greg Berlanti. Witherspoon will produce at least two films.
Berlanti — whose TV credits include “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Riverdale” and “Blindspot” — will produce four in the young-adult genre.
In addition, the company said it will be the exclusive streaming platform for new dramas for The CW, to be produced by Warner Bros. That programming will include the new DC Entertainment series
“Batwoman” and “Riverdale” spinoff “Katy Keene.”
WarnerMedia previously announced a roster of original series being produced for the new SVOD platform for
2020 and 2021.
Those programs include an extension of the Frank Herbert sci-fi novel “Dune”(“Dune: The Sisterhood”); a romantic anthology series starring and coproduced
by actress Anna Kendrick; a series adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Outsider”; a new fictional series based on New York’s Gilded Age, from “Downton Abbey” creator
Julian Fellowes; and a series adaptation of Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America,” among others.