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AT&T Television Movies

WarnerMedia Scraps Plan For a Three-Tiered Streaming Service, To Package HBO, Cinemax and its Library Into One Offering For $16 to $17 a Month (wsj.com) 61

AT&T's WarnerMedia has abandoned its plan for a three-tiered streaming service and instead will likely package HBO, sister channel Cinemax and the vast library of Warner Bros TV shows and movies into one offering at a price of between $16 and $17 a month, WSJ reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The subscription service will debut in "beta" form later this year, the people said and is expected to be fully up and running as early as next March, according to one of them. WarnerMedia is also considering rolling out an ad-supported version of the streaming service -- at a cheaper price -- later in 2020, they said. It is unclear what the content makeup of that version would be. Further down the road, WarnerMedia could add an additional premium option for people to watch live events or sports, one of the people said.
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WarnerMedia Scraps Plan For a Three-Tiered Streaming Service, To Package HBO, Cinemax and its Library Into One Offering For $16

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  • Tha-tha-that's all, folks!
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Netflix is already getting uppity raising prices above $10/month. Amazon Prime remains at $10/month for now.

    $16-$17+ per month is just no. More than $200 a year for one of the smaller slices of the entertainment pie is just not happening.

    Even Disney would have a difficult time convincing me that $15/month was worthwhile, and they're the largest player in the business.

    • by LostMyAccount ( 5587552 ) on Thursday June 06, 2019 @03:01PM (#58720850)

      I add on HBO through Amazon and it's $15/month now. Adding in Skin-e-max and a library of movies and shows would actually make it more, not less, appealing to me.

      HBO only at $15 is dodgy, but I tell myself the fact that you get their current movie catalog, too, which is a cut above the usual dreck on Amazon and Netflix, makes it kind of worthwhile.

      With Skin-e-Max programming, their current movie selection, and a whole bunch of other Time-Warner content it would be even better at $15.

      The one I keep wanting to dump is fucking Netflix, so many originals are shit and the non-original content is often shit, too.

      • The one I keep wanting to dump is fucking Netflix, so many originals are shit and the non-original content is often shit, too.

        Then fucking dump them. Wait 5 months, then join for 1 month to watch whatever few things you like. (If you wait 6 months, they purge your history, lists, etc. Waiting too long also comes with an increased risk of shit disappearing.)

        • My wife is a live TV addict. I mean it took her like 3 years just to accept the idea of watching a show on the Tivo instead of live, and even fucking longer to watch Netflix.

          I start switching up streaming, she'll lose her goddamn mind.

  • by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Thursday June 06, 2019 @02:15PM (#58720508)

    I already have all of Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brains and all the Looney Tunes Golden Collection volumes. I also have all the Potter stuff.

    Why, then, should I bother with yet another streamer?

    Netflix is the one who should be worried. Little by little all the content owners are taking back their content away from Netflix.

    • by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Thursday June 06, 2019 @02:39PM (#58720682) Homepage

      Netflix is the one who should be worried. Little by little all the content owners are taking back their content away from Netflix.

      Netflix saw the writing on this wall a long time ago. That is why they are making original content.

      • Netflix saw the writing on this wall a long time ago. That is why they are making original content.

        True, but at least in my circle - no one is particularly enamored of Netflix's self-produced stuff. They're not in HBO's league by a longshot.

        Specific to our family... we've stayed subscribed to Netflix because of various third-party shows - but most of those are now available on other services (e.g. Hulu), and I've been gradually buying the Blu-Rays/DVDs for the few which aren't (generally two months of Netflix is about the equivalent cost). I'm just about ready to finally pull the plug on our Netflix subs

        • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

          True, but at least in my circle - no one is particularly enamored of Netflix's self-produced stuff. They're not in HBO's league by a longshot.

          Depends on the shows I guess. Lucifer, Altered Carbon, and Lost in Space I thought had excellent production quality. But if you are not happy with Netflix, pull the plug and put your money somewhere that would make you more happy.

          • I would add Black Mirror, the first few seasons of Orange is the new Black (still not as good as Wentworth), Umbrella Academy, Daredevil (now cancelled because of disney), Jessica Jones (now cancelled because of disney), Ozark, the first few seasons of House of Cards, The Punisher, and The Ranch (also available on Hulu) were all excellent shows.

            Compare those to HBO, which in my circle the only reason people had it was for Game of Thrones, which is now over.

            Netflix is a MUCH better deal. And Disney+ is a no

        • They're not in HBO's league by a longshot.

          There's still a huge difference between $10/month and $17/month. Agreed, HBO shows are top quality but questionable whether even that gets them to $17/month.

          • There's still a huge difference between $10/month and $17/month. Agreed, HBO shows are top quality but questionable whether even that gets them to $17/month.

            Yeah, if we didn't get HBO for free I have my doubts I'd pay $15/month for it or $17/month for this new service.

            On a side note... a few years ago we got tired of paying $140/month to Comcast, so we dropped down to something called "Internet + Limited Basic" at the time (which was priced pretty much the same as the equivalent internet only plan). Weirdly, while it was listed as "just your local channels" - it also included HBO! They've since discontinued the HBO throw-in, but we haven't changed plans so we'r

            • by pnutjam ( 523990 )
              HBO via comcast is $15 / month. I'll bet it's individually listed on your contract.
        • True, but at least in my circle - no one is particularly enamored of Netflix's self-produced stuff. They're not in HBO's league by a longshot.

          Netflix and HBO have been competing with one another for several years now over who can win the most Emmys. No one else is close. By that measure, at least, Netflix and HBO are of similar quality.

          However, I have heard complaints like yours quite a few times. A lot of people seem to dislike Netflix's original shows, despite the fact that they're so critically successful. I know that critics and audiences don't always agree, but not usually to this extent. I don't get it.

    • I don't believe that's the case.

      Netflix has over 139M subscribers at $10USD or more (I'm not sure about foreign market pricing). HBO GO (steaming only) has $5 million (additional $142M from cable). And this new offering is way over priced. Disney streaming has 0 (but will do well, Netflix/Disney combo is good for entire family).

      Netflix is also spending way more on original content (for 2018, $13 billion for Netflix compared to $2.5B for HBO, maybe as much as other major studios combined if this article i

  • HBO itself is already around $15 a month (that's what HBO Now is priced at, and it's about the same as my subscription through my cable company). Adding Cinemax and the rest of the Warner library for a few more dollars is a decent deal.

    • HBO itself is already around $15 a month (that's what HBO Now is priced at, and it's about the same as my subscription through my cable company). Adding Cinemax and the rest of the Warner library for a few more dollars is a decent deal.

      On the other hand; HBO content is probably going to log 90% of the time people watch in such a package. Does Cinemax or TimeWaner have any 21st century content that people watch?

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
        Depends on what all they put out there. All those Chuck Lorre CBS sitcoms that print money? WB owns them. Of course will they risk the syndication cash-cow those shows provide? That's the big question. All the DC shows are theirs. DC movies are theirs (OK that's not going so well but still). Here is a list of WB owned TV shows [imdb.com] and WB's top 100 films [imdb.com] And then there's all the classic Warner Archive films. They have one of the best back catalogs in Hollywood. I'm sure they can make something of that.
  • ... it equals cable? Getting closer, anyway. And you still need to pay the, er, cable company for your high speed internet.
    • by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 ) on Thursday June 06, 2019 @04:54PM (#58721694)

      What; did you honestly think that on a long enough time-line these entertainment conglomerates would leave anything on the table for consumers?

      They're shuffling the chairs a bit, but it's the simply same old bullshit. Actually.. it's worse, because now there are several different players all trying to extract as much money much as they possibly can.

      The only winning move is to just say no, and drop them all -- until they learn some manners.

  • SO when will Directv have HBO AND MAX as one? For that price?

  • Fuck that noise.

  • I subscribe to HBO Now for like $15/mo. I don't think Cinemax and Warner Bros entire back catalog are worth the extra $2/mo.

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