Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) JB Perrette has suggested Amazon as a potential new partner.
Speaking at the 8th annual Wells Fargo TMT Summit, WBD’s CEO of streaming and games, Perrette discussed the potential of a partnership with Amazon to distribute its Max channel across the UK, Germany and Italy when HBO’s current agreement with Sky expires in around a year’s time.
WBD has already stated its intent to launch Max in the territories by 2026, and its ties with Sky have come under scrutiny with differences in customer acquisition and retention becoming apparent.
No decision has yet been made and Perrette indicated Sky and WBD could remain in business. He told the audience: “There’s also great alternatives. Amazon is great in those markets and certainly eager to be more and more aggressive in that space.”
Discussions are ongoing said Perrette adding that “time will tell,” with regards to the direction the companies will choose. “In the old model,” he said, “you would have to pull all your content off Sky and only go direct-to-consumer. That’s not necessarily the case, particularly when they have a big, established installed base with a lot of our fans. There are very collaborative ways we could work together, as we’ve proven we can do.”
