Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon announced a new deal that will make HBO content accessible through Prime Video.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the "Warner Pass" will include both HBO content as well as titles from a range of other channels, including Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, CNN, Eurosport and Warner TV. This new service will initially only be available in France and is eyeing a March 2023 launch. Prime Video users wanting to purchase the "Warner Pass" will need to do so through a separate subscription. To celebrate the deal, the companies announced that Prime Video subscribers will be able to watch the HBO series The Last of Us for no additional cost. The episodes will be accessible the day after their air on HBO.
The content offered by the "Warner Pass" includes The Sopranos, Sex and The City, Game of Thrones, Veep, Chernobyl and The Wire. It will also offer access to new shows such as True Detective: Night Country, The Idol and White House Plumbers as well as new seasons of Barry, Succession, Perry Mason and Somebody Somewhere.
"We are thrilled to agree a new partnership with Prime Video in France," said Pierre Branco, General Manager France, Benelux & Africa at Warner Bros. Discovery. "The launch of the ‘Warner Pass’ is great news for the French audience as our fans will be able to access all HBO series and our 12 television channels with a single subscription."
The HBO Max Content Purge
Warner Bros. Discovery's deal with Amazon comes after the company experienced a tumultuous 2022. Following the merger of both organizations and current CEO David Zaslav taking control, WB has terminated a great deal of its content, most explicitly when it comes to HBO Max. After removing several popular titles from the service, including a wealth of Cartoon Network shows and classic Looney Tunes episodes, many fans have taken to calling the prolonged period of uncertainty the "HBO Max Content Purge."
Despite many remaining leery of Warner Bros.' stance on content curation, the company has reassured its supporters that it doesn't plan on canceling any more projects in the future. "I think we’ve come to great solutions and, most importantly, we’re done with that chapter," said CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
At the time of writing, it's currently unknown whether Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon have any plans to expand the "Warner Pass" outside of France.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter