Netflix is losing another binge-worthy series with the arrival of HBO Max, a new streaming service from WarnerMedia. The newly anointed service has acquired the full library of the hit show Friends, among other series, which means it will be leaving Netflix in 2020.
Under new arrangements with Warner Bros. Television and others, all 236 episodes of Friends will come to the new service. As you may remember, last year, Netflix made a deal to keep Friends for one more year at a price of more than $80 million and an option for WarnerMedia to share the series. HBO Max will now get Friends reruns exclusively, starting in 2020, in a five-year deal reportedly worth in the neighborhood $425 million. Other series going to the new platform will be The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Pretty Little Liars.
HBO Max will also be the SVOD home to Warner Bros. TV’s new CW shows Batwoman and Katy Keene, a spinoff of Riverdale beginning with the fall 2019 season. The two series became available after the CW parents Warner Bros. and CBS this past spring opted not to renew their pact with Netflix.
The news of Netflix losing Friends comes on the heels of the $500 million+ pact NBCUniversal recently made to move The Office from Netflix to its upcoming streaming service. It’s being reported that a beta version of HBO Max will be out by the end of 2019, with a full-bodied version in spring 2020.
