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This December, Universals pay TV partnership with HBO will officially expire, after having a long-standing deal. Content from Universal Pictures will move to Peacock streaming, beginning January 2022; which will have a four-month exclusive window, after films hit theaters. This is the first time movies Universal won’t premiere on HBO Max, as the first landing spot for a third-party platform.
This is set to drastically change things for HBO Max, as they’ve already been focused on promoting their own digital content. Much like Netflix losing their content to other platforms in 2020, we expect HBO to shift focus to original series and films. So, the increase for in-house shows hitting HBO is something we’ve personally wanted; since they’re losing streaming rights to Universal Pictures.
Luckily, they’re still backed by Warner Bros. at the moment; but that could change if ATT does pull the trigger on the rumored sale to Disney.
Look for HBO Max to heavily invest in big budgeted films, and more new original programming.