David Watson, CEO of Comcast Connectivity and Platforms, said a just-announced renewal and expansion of its distribution agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery was “a huge win” for the Philadelphia based media giant in terms of economics and flexibility.
Financial terms of the deal announced earlier today were not disclosed. But Watson indicated Comcast will be paying less, maybe for more, including the option of packaging Max and Discovery+ in streaming bundles.
The comprehensive, global deal included the UK as well as Sky in the UK and Ireland. Sky’s key output deal with HBO will continue, and it can bundle Max in the UK when the streamer launches there in 2026. Max will also be available on its own.
“We got the economics that we were looking for from the renewal terms, really good economics I think, industry leading. And we have flexibility. There are two things that we’re looking for in the marketplace at this point in general,” Watson told the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in NYC.
“Great economics that help us serve every segment that we go after. And, being able to leverage video in a way that partners well for broadband, and [is] built for streaming. We want to have packaging and streaming flexibility so we can take linear and streaming applications and partner it for each segment as we need to. So flexibility is awfully important. But getting core economics right makes a lot of sense.
We were able to do both of those things.”
The pact renewed a handful of different agreements on multiple fronts across the U.S. and Europe.
It’s “good news that that we’re able to do that. It’s good news because … I think it checked a lot of boxes for both of us. I think it’s a huge win,” especially “when you have the scale that both of us have.”
Key in Europe was retaining and expanding HBO content on Sky channels. The Max app will be available on Sky.
“I think they appreciated the platform that we have, in that we’re a good partner to deliver customers, maintain customers. But we’re [also] a great partner when it comes to an industry leading platform, being able to find our content easily assembled in ways that make sense for the customers.
“In Sky, it’s available in multiple ways, ingested on linear, on demand, through apps.” WBD will also offer Max directly.
Asked if the pact was similar to ones Charter has been inking with content providers where it offers streaming apps to Charter subscribers, he said, “I think for the right segment, what Charter is doing is very smart and we have the flexibility to do that.
“Our strategy is a little different in that we segment the marketplace and, for certain packages, we will include apps now and in the future where it makes sense. But from our standpoint, it won’t necessarily be every tier where we’ll do that.
“We’d rather do something new and unique in terms of segmentation versus doing one size fits all. But for certain, the high-end segment, it could make a lot of sense.”
Gerhard Zeiler, WBD’s President of International, will likely weigh in when he speaks at UBS on Tuesday.