Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming CEO on Max Charging Extra for Sports: ‘Everywhere in the World Outside the U.S., It’s Priced Separate’
variety.comJennifer Maas TV Business Writer Max fans who don’t relish the idea of coughing up $9.99 per month more to access the Warner Bros.
Discovery-owned streamer’s upcoming live sports tier might not realize that they’ve been making out like bandits with seemingly “free” sports content on other platforms for years, according to WBD global streaming chief JB Perrette. “We’ve operated in sports in the direct-to-consumer space for a decade in Europe, through Eurosport, and what we learned there, through a lot of trial and error, is sports is a premium offering, it’s a passionate fanbase, obviously, it’s not something that appeals to everyone, and guess what?
Everywhere in the world outside the United States, it’s priced separate,” Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and games CEO and president Perrette told Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton at Variety‘s Entertainment & Technology Summit Thursday. “The only place in the world where it’s priced and jammed into the entertainment bundle is in the United States.
We look at the model in streaming and say, now’s the time to actually reset that model. Rather than, like we see some of our peers giving it away for free — what seems like giving it away for free, because they’re just giving it for no additional costs in the entertainment price — we think it has to be priced separately.” On Tuesday, WBD announced that beginning Oct.
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