WarnerMedia will launch a streaming service in 2019 – Variety



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WarnerMedia joins Disney in the race to launch a global direct-to-consumer platform next year.

WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey unveiled the plan Wednesday during his speech at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles. Stankey said the company would use its library and content engines to create such a service by the end of 2019.

The new platform will be showcased at HBO, with additional brand content from Warner Media bundled around this premium cable service, Stankey said.

The price of the service will only be determined when the project will be on the market, but Stankey says that it will be more expensive than the current HBO over-the-top subscription plan (whose price is more than fair, thanks to the "emotional engagement" of Warner Media content as "Game of Thrones").

The CEO also said that Warner Media's content expenditures would be "competitive" compared to Netflix's spending, which currently stands at $ 2.5 billion and $ 8 billion, respectively, according to extensive reports. Many traditional media brands transformed by consolidation arm themselves to fight against Netflix, Variety recently covered at the end.

"This is another advantage of the AT & T / Time Warner merger and we are committed to launching a compelling and competitive product that will complement our existing business and help us expand our reach by offering a new entertainment choice with WarnerMedia. collection of movies, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation, "Stankey said in an announcement published before the summit.

In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AT & T discussed the significant costs associated with launching such a business.

"We expect that the financial support for the launch of this product will come from a combination of increased efficiency within WarnerMedia operations, consolidation of resources from D2C efforts on a smaller scale, fallow library content." and technology reuse, "said AT & T in the rankings. "We plan to defer certain license revenues to future periods in the form of an increase in customer subscription revenues."

Stankey seemed more than aware of the cost by comparing Warner brands to high-end retailers, stating that he wanted the service to look like "a collection of shops that cater to your particular needs, but whose quality level is well including".

CNBC presenter Andrew Ross Sorkin, who moderated the conversation, asked if Stankey was suffering from "night sweats" about the possibility that the Justice Department could reverse the AT & T-Time Warner merger in front of a court of law. 39; call.

Stankey said that he was sweat-free and that he had abandoned Trump's infested ordeal in order to preserve his "health, sanity and well-being".

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