Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Gives Itself Max Options as It Renews New Zealand Supply Deal With Sky

Story from Variety:

Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced a renewal of their multi-year content and platform agreement in New Zealand, securing Sky as the continuing home of HBO, Max Originals, Warner Bros. and Discovery.

Warner Bros. Discovery says that the deal keeps open its options on how and when to launch the Max streaming service (formerly HBO Max) in the country.

The agreement includes a continuation of Warner Bros. Discovery’s eight channel portfolio (Discovery, Discovery Turbo, Living Channel, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network and CNN International); current and future seasons of HBO series such as “House of The Dragon,” “The Last of Us” and The White Lotus; returning series “True Detective: Night Country,” “Euphoria” “Game of Thrones,” “Sex & The City,” “Chernobyl”; Max Original series including “Peacemaker” and “The Flight Attendant,” future Warner Bros. blockbuster movies and a library titles including the “Harry Potter,” “Lord of the Rings” and “DC Universe” movies.

“The deal provides optionality for the future launch of Max in New Zealand, including a provision to retail Max on Sky platforms. We have no specific details for the New Zealand launch at this stage,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson told Variety.

That is an important caveat. Warner Bros. Discovery has rethought its planned international rollout of HBO Max and is still toying with its own streaming platform options. Similar forms of flexibility were built into the content and channels supply deal struck with Foxtel in Australia, earlier this year.

“This renewed deal reflects the long-standing partnership between Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery, and the continued commitment of both companies to bringing Kiwis premium content and brands. Sky’s focus is ensuring audiences have access to the content they love in ways that work best for them. With that in mind, we’re thrilled that this new deal also has optionality at its core, giving us the flexibility to continue entertaining audiences across multiple platforms in the years ahead.