Following the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, the company plans to bring its two streaming services together. It’ll take years to implement in the UK and Ireland.
Warner Bros Discovery wants to bring all of its streaming services under one roof as soon as possible.
In countries where both services are already available, the company wants to bundle the two services to start off with. This will allow customers to access both services with one subscription, and potentially the same sign-in details.
The plans were revealed by Discovery Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will remain in that position in the merged company.
But Wiedenfels told reporters on Monday that the company believed “in a combined product as opposed to a bundle…” First though, work had to be done to find the best way of merging the two platforms.
Once complete, this would ultimately create one of the largest multi-genre programme library of entertainment, reality, lifestyle, children’s TV and sport available on a single platform.
Wiedenfels added:
“So right out of the gate, we’re working on getting the bundling approach ready, maybe a single sign-on, maybe ingesting content into the other product, etc., so that we can start to get some benefits early on. But the main thrust is going to be harmonizing the technology platform. Building one very, very strong combined direct-to-consumer product and platform, that’s going to take a while.”
…and a while longer in the UK and Ireland
For countries including the UK and Ireland, HBO content is contractually tied to Sky for a few more years. This means Discovery+ will remain a standalone product here, for now. At the same time, Discovery will be looking at how to intregrate its new BT sports channel joint venture.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s plans highlight the potential the company now has to overshadow Sky the second it and Sky go their separate ways.