Variety: Sky Sues Warner Bros. Over Refusal to Partner on ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series

Story from Variety:

Sky Group filed a lawsuit Friday against Warner Bros., accusing the studio of breaching their agreement by refusing to partner on the upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series.

Sky has long distributed Warner Bros. content in the UK, but the relationship has deteriorated recently as Warners has prepared to launch its competing Max streaming service in Europe.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, marks a full breakdown in the partnership. According to the suit, Warners is obligated to offer four Max series per year to be co-financed and co-produced by Sky and distributed exclusively to Sky viewers in the UK and other European territories.

But Sky alleges that Warner Bros. has failed to live up to that deal since it began in 2021, most recently by refusing to co-produce the upcoming “Harry Potter” series.

“Warner’s reason for refusing to honor its obligations to Sky could not be more clear,” the lawsuit states. “Warner has chosen to keep the Harry Potter Series for itself and make the blockbuster Series the cornerstone of its own Max rollout in Europe.”

Sky, which is owned by Comcast, alleges that it will lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars due to Warners Bros.’ breach of the agreement.

The agreement is set to expire at the end of 2025. Max has begun to roll out in Europe, and is due to launch in the UK in 2026.

In response, a Warner Bros. spokesperson said the lawsuit is “a baseless attempt by Sky and Comcast to try and gain leverage” in talks for WB programming after 2025.

“We know HBO branded shows are critical to Sky, as evidenced by their desire for over a year to find a way to renew our agreements, and this lawsuit makes it clear that Sky is deeply concerned about the viability of its business were it to lose our award-winning content,” the spokesperson said. “WBD will vigorously defend itself from this unfounded lawsuit as we move forward undeterred with plans to launch Max, including the new HBO Harry Potter series, in the UK and other European markets in 2026.”

In the lawsuit, Sky accuses Warner Bros. of giving it the runaround on “Harry Potter.” The series was publicly announced in April 2023, but a month later, when Sky executives asked why it had not been offered to Sky under their partnership, Warner Bros. executives said the series had not been “ordered” and that they had not seen their own company’s press release, according to the lawsuit.

Contradicting the press release, the executives said the series had not been greenlit, and might never be, and therefore was not subject to the Sky co-financing arrangement.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has released a string of announcements over the last year about casting and additions to the creative team of the show.

Sky argues that Warner Bros. had already been failing to live up to its end of the bargain for two years by that point.

The contract, which was attached to the lawsuit, obliges Sky to fund 20% to 25% of the budget of the shows on which it partners with Warner Bros. The company pledged to commit at least $40 million in the first year of the contract, rising to $100 million by 2025.

Dana Strong, the CEO of Sky Group, said at a conference in June that the companies were in conversation about how to extend their relationship after the contract expires.

“Regardless, in every scenario, Sky customers will have Warner content on Sky platforms,” she said at the time.