'Friends' Officially Leaving Netflix for WarnerMedia's Streaming Service
It's official: Friends is moving from Netflix to WarnerMedia's streaming service, now officially called HBO Max.
HBO Max will also be the new streaming home for all fare from The CW (which was previously housed at Netflix) as well as original feature films from prolific producer Greg Berlanti and Reese Witherspoon. HBO Max will officially launch in spring 2020 and will debut with 10,000 hours of premium content. Sources say WarnerMedia paid $85 million per year for five years ($425 million total) to land Friends for its own service, outbidding Netflix for the ensemble comedy starring Jennifer Aniston. Netflix responded to the news with a tweet Tuesday.
“HBO Max will bring together the diverse riches of WarnerMedia to create programming and user experiences not seen before in a streaming platform. HBO’s world-class programming leads the way, the quality of which will be the guiding principle for our new array of Max Originals, our exciting acquisitions, and the very best of the Warner Bros. libraries, starting with the phenomenon that is ‘Friends,’” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer. “Under the leadership of two of the strongest creative visionaries — Casey Bloys (HBO) and Kevin Reilly (original content and acquisitions) — and two of the most experienced digital experts, Tony Goncalves and Andy Forssell, I have no doubt they and their dedicated teams will deliver the world’s best storytelling to audiences of all ages wherever and whenever they want it.”
HBO Max will also be the exclusive streaming home for all episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as well as Pretty Little Liars. Those will join all HBO current series and library content including Game of Thrones and The CW originals starting with Batwoman and Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene. All of those series, as well as Friends, are produced by Warner Bros. TV. The CW's streaming deal with Netflix expired in May. Current CW series already streaming on Netflix (like Riverdale and The Flash) will continue to do so until they wrap their runs. (To be clear, Batwoman and Katy Keene will not be available on HBO Max until 30 days prior to the next seasons; Netflix landed current seasons eight days after a finale aired.)
The Friends move from Netflix was expected after the streaming giant paid producers Warners $80 million to $100 million to continue to have the former NBC hit for all of 2019. The show will move to HBO Max when that deal expires at the start of 2020. WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks president Reilly strongly indicated back in February that Friends would be pulled from Netflix and moved to the streaming platform when he noted that "it's not a good model to share."
The decision comes weeks after Netflix lost streaming rights to The Office as producers Universal Television auctioned off rights to the hit comedy. Sources say NBCUniversal's streaming service won the rights with a $100 million per-year offer (for five years) following a heated round of bidding with everyone including Netflix attempting to land the library.
Berlanti — who holds a TV record with 18 series on the air, including Kaley Cuoco vehicle The Flight Attendant for HBO Max — will produce four initial YA movies, while Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine banner will produce at least a pair of features for the service. “What I’ve always loved about creating shows that connect with a young audience is that these fans grow up with the programs and will remember them for the rest of their lives. Now I get to do even more of that for HBO Max, where viewers will be able to discover shows on their own time, in their own way," Berlanti said. "Like any great novel, these shows will be there waiting for you. As a fan, what I’m personally most excited to watch on the service are all the great Warner Bros. movies that affected our entire culture and changed the way we live.”
HBO Max will also feature library content from WarnerMedia outlets, including features from Warner Bros, New Line, DC Entertainment, CNN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and more. HBO series set to stream on the new service include upcoming entries Watchmen, The Outsider (from Stephen King), J.J. Abrams-Jordan Peele's Lovecraft Country, Joss Whedon's The Nevers, David Simon's The Plot Against America and veteran offerings like Issa Rae's Insecure.
“What’s exciting about HBO Max is that we have so many more resources and so many more voices of support for our show, and it’s an opportunity for other creators to have a bigger platform. I’m thrilled that my show will still be on HBO but now it will also be part of a new service that will reach more and more people,” Rae said.
The entire Game of Thrones library will also stream on HBO Max, with creator George R.R. Martin also hoping his prequel series currently in the pilot stage could also wind up there. "Back in 1991, after a decade in television, I began writing a series of novels that I knew would never be filmed. A Game of Thrones and its sequels were too big, too complex, too dark, too sexy, with a cast of thousands, gigantic battles, massive castles, direwolves, ice wights and dragons. Too sprawling for a feature film, too expensive for television. I should have remembered, ‘It's not television, it's HBO.’ Working with HBO during the past decade has been a dream come true," Martin said. "What they did could not be done, but they did it anyway. And now they are embarked on a new venture. No, they won't be tying their shows to the legs of ravens as I suggested...instead they are launching an exciting new streaming platform that will carry all the great HBO programming around the world...classic old shows and thrilling new shows, including (I hope) a return to my world of Westeros. Sign me up!”
In addition to library content like Friends and Pretty Little Liars, HBO Max will feature scripted originals including Dune: The Sisterhood, Tokyo Vice starring Ansel Elgort, Cuoco's The Flight Attendant, Anna Kendrick comedy Love Life and a Gremlins animated prequel series. Others are expected to be announced as the streamer continues to aggressively bulk up on high-profile new series to land subscribers.
HBO Max is expected to launch in beta in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Netflix
Hulu
Amazon Prime
ESPN+
Disney+ (at Launch)
Maybe HBO Max...
Man, I really hope Apple (or someone) can get their set top boxes to easily intergrate all the different streaming options. I have the Apple TV beta which Apple made it sound like it might on the path, but it isn't....yet.
Netflix
Hulu
Amazon Prime
ESPN+
Disney+ (at Launch)
Maybe HBO Max...
Man, I really hope Apple (or someone) can get their set top boxes to easily intergrate all the different streaming options. I have the Apple TV beta which Apple made it sound like it might on the path, but it isn't....yet.
We're entering a whole new era of entertainment... to the victors belong the spoils.
Everyone's trying to be Netflix 6 years too late. We should start betting on how fast some of these services will fail and turn their material back over to Netflix.
Everyone's trying to be Netflix 6 years too late. We should start betting on how fast some of these services will fail and turn their material back over to Netflix.
Or maybe they'll just all merge and become the anti-Netflix?
Everyone's trying to be Netflix 6 years too late. We should start betting on how fast some of these services will fail and turn their material back over to Netflix.
I disagree, I think Netflix is the one that'll have trouble surviving this, they don't have the catalog or brands that Disney & Warner Bros does.
I don't know if I care for the name, but I guess HBO is a bigger brand for television than Warnermedia's own name.
I wonder how this will affect HBO's other network brand, CineMAX.
So, what are we looking at here? We got: HBO Max (I guess DC Universe will be totally absorbed by HBO Max?), Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, not to mention CBS All Access, Sony Crackle, and the upcoming AppleTV+.
Looks like the future will indeed be streaming services.
I have a feeling Hulu will eventually either fold into Disney+ and disappear completely, or will be bought out by the silent partner, Comcast/NBCUniversal, to become their exclusive streaming service.
Last edited by Darkstream; 07-09-2019 at 07:16 PM.
Everyone's trying to be Netflix 6 years too late. We should start betting on how fast some of these services will fail and turn their material back over to Netflix.
That DC Universe service is looking pretty useless now.
I'm sad but fortunately TBS plays Friends like nine hours a day
On TV soon
All times are in Eastern Time
Today, 3 PM
TBS
S09E16
Today, 3:30 PM
TBS
S09E17
Today, 10 PM
Nickelodeon
S02E05
Today, 10:30 PM
Nickelodeon
S02E06
Today, 11 PM
Nickelodeon
S02E07
Everyone's trying to be Netflix 6 years too late. We should start betting on how fast some of these services will fail and turn their material back over to Netflix.
6 years too late? I think that they would have been certainly doomed to fail had they rushed out and did this any sooner behind Netflix creating this type of service. It takes time to research, develop, and improve upon these sort of things, so I think 6 years is actually pretty good timing to follow up on doing something of their own that was basically pioneered by another creator.
I'm sure we'll have a few smaller streaming services dissolve in no time, but I think the bigger ones will hold up for a while.
This has to be one of the worst written articles I've read in some time. It sounds like it was put together by a 15 year old foaming at the mouth. Journalism in 2019 I guess
Why so much negativity against Netflix all the sudden?
Well, I guess if we can have fans debate and battle in the comics universe wars (Marvel vs DC), and then the Hollywood studio wars (Disney vs. Warner Bros. vs. Fox vs. Sony, etc.), then it seems only natural that people are going to takes sides and start hating within the streaming network wars.
Was there ever a time before the internet when people actually argued about which television broadcast network -- ABC vs. CBS vs. NBC -- was the best?
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NBC's "Friends" Discussion (1994-2004)
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