“Mischief Managed!”: Warner Bros Discovery Zapped By Comcast-Owned Sky UK Over ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series & More

deadline.com:

No magic wand is going to make the latest legal fight Warner Bros Discovery and David Zaslav find themselves in go away, even if Harry Potter is a part of the corporate skirmish.

Up against the NBA and Amazon over basketball rights, and losing traction in the court-paused launch of Venu sports streamer, WBD today finds itself blasted by a lawsuit from Comcast-owned Sky UK and others over a TV deal that looks to have withered on the contractual vine. “Warner has repeatedly failed to offer Sky the annually required minimum number of contractually qualifying series for its consideration,” says the hard hitting complaint filed Friday in federal court in New York of a 2019 deal the parties inked. “Specifically, Warner was obligated to present Sky with at least four shows per year across 2021, 2022, and 2023 but undisputedly fell far short of that mark, in certain years offering barely a single qualifying series while also withholding critical, contractually required information necessary for Sky to evaluate any potential options that it did receive.” Read Sky’s lawsuit against Warner Bros.

Discovery over TV shows like Harry Potter & more here On the surface, the jury seeking filing from Sky accuses WBD of trying to pull off a very clumsy sleight of hand trick.

Pretty straightforward, right? However, pouring vinegar further into the corporate wine, the Sky complaint also comes as the longtime output deals for HBO in the UK, Italy and Germany are due to expire in 2025, paving the way for struggling streamer Max to launch in those key territories.