Streaming Catch-Up: News & Previews

Ahead of a major streaming announcement tomorrow that will provide one of NZ’s best bang-for-buck subscription services yet comes news of global initiatives that could have implications for this market.

Signalling how Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max could roll out here, WBD’s president of International, Gerhard Zeiler, today reassured the Asia-Pacific region that it is an integral part of the group’s post-merger strategy.

“The reassurance may have been necessary following post-merger announcements that proposed changes in North America, Latin America and Europe ahead of Asia – despite recent external data showing Asia-Pacific as one of the world’s fastest growth regions,” Variety reports.

He explained that combining the HBO Max and Discovery Plus streaming services is the way forward … Delivering the new streaming platform in Asia could involve partnerships with local players. He cited pay-TV and streaming group Foxtel in Australia and pay-TV player Astro in Malaysia and one or two groups in Korea, as examples of possible partnership. “We believe in partnerships. [These] can be win-win situations for two strong companies,” he said.

So chances are there’s more likely to be an alliance with Sky for HBO Max content, given the latter’s legacy deal, than an outright absorption of HBO Max fare by WBD NZ’s streaming operation.

This time last year WBD NZ was hinting at big changes because of the merger that would benefit it in the marketplace but so far there’s been scant sign of this apart from a beefed-up but still poorly resourced ThreeNow platform.

Variety also ran this interesting insight into Prime Video’s success in India while trade papers today reported Starzplay was changing the name of its global streaming service to Lionsgate+ in 35 countries (which have yet to include NZ, where Starz shows like Gaslit, Power and The Great have been licensed to other services).

“We recognised the potential of the global OTT market early, and over the last few years we have built an incredible global streaming service, which has become a destination for audiences seeking premium, provocative programming,” Jeffrey Hirsch, president and CEO of Starz, says.

“Operating under Lionsgate+ internationally brings a distinct and differentiated identity in an increasingly crowded international marketplace and builds on the brand equity in the Lionsgate name that our extensive research has proven is strong around the world.

In other news:

Season three of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, starring John Krasinski, will premiere on Prime Video on December 21, when all eight episodes will drop.

Third time around, Jack’s on the run and in a race against time after being wrongly implicated in a larger conspiracy. Wanted by both the CIA and an international rogue faction that he has uncovered, he is forced underground, crisscrossing Europe, trying to stay alive, while preventing a massive global conflict.

Disney+ will premiere Save Our Squad with David Beckham on November 9.

It’s billed as “a heart-warming series” that sees David Beckham return to his East London roots to mentor Westward Boys, a young, grassroots team who are at the bottom of their league, facing relegation — the same league that Beckham played in as a young boy. Can he turn around the team’s fortunes?