New video service to have ‘Friends’
WarnerMedia is looking for a little help from its “Friends” to boost the company’s new streaming service.
The AT&Towned business said Tuesday that its new service, which will start next spring, will have exclusive rights to all 236 episodes of “Friends,” which was produced by Warner Bros. Television and has been one of Netflix’s most popular shows. Netflix simultaneously announced that it was losing one of its leading attractions — at least domestically.
“We’re sorry to see Friends go to Warner’s streaming service at the beginning of 2020 . ... Thanks for the memories, gang,” Netflix said on Twitter.
WarnerMedia also announced that it will call the new service HBO Max, a nod to the importance of the premium pay network known for “Game of Thrones,” “Big Little Lies,” “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.“
Those shows will all be available on the HBO Max streaming service. Other exclusive programs will include “The Fresh Prince of BelAir,” “Pretty Little Liars,” new DC Entertainment series, romantic comedies to be produced by Reese Witherspoon, and movies from power producer Greg Berlanti.
But one of the chief draws will be reruns of the 25yearold hit sitcom, which was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and made stars out of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. The show ran for 10 seasons on NBC, from 1994 to 2004, but has witnessed a resurgence among younger audiences on Netflix.
Last year, Netflix extended its licensing agreement for “Friends“in an unusual oneyear deal — reportedly for about $80 million — to keep the show in its catalog until 2020. A recent Nielsen study found that Netflix relies heavily on broadcast network reruns to engage subscribers. Its five most popular shows — “The Office,” “Friends,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” — come from NBC, ABC and CBS.
Netflix subscribers spend twothirds of their time on the service watching shows that are not original to Netflix, according to Nielsen.
WarnerMedia’s move is the latest example of a company clawing back popular content from Netflix to support its own streaming service. (“Friends” will be available on the HBO Max digital service but it will not move to the linear HBO channels.)
Netflix will lose its No. 1 show, “The Office,” in 2021. NBCUniversal plans to use the remake of the quirky British workplace comedy, starring Steve Carell, Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski, for its planned adsupported streaming service that will be available early next year.
Naming the new service HBO Max suggests that the AT&Towned company recognizes that it must create a prestige service if it intends to charge subscribers about $17 a month — more than Netflix and the planned Disney streaming service. Netflix costs $12.99 a month, and Disney plans to introduce its familyoriented service in November for $6.99 a month.
Although the Warner Bros. name has plenty of cachet in Hollywood, it does not resonate with consumers in the same way as HBO, which has long been television’s tastemaker. HBO already has a standalone streaming service, offered for $14.99 a month, which has about 8 million customers.
“HBO Max will bring together the diverse riches of WarnerMedia to create programming and user experiences not seen before in a streaming platform,” Robert Greenblatt, chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment, said in a statement. The former chief of NBC Entertainment assumed control of the HBO and Turner channels in March.
“HBO’s worldclass 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,’ ” he said.