Just what cord cutters wanted. Another tiered service with separate price points and access to content. This is what Warner Media dropped during an investor day event. There are few details about what would actually be available in a new service, which is expected to launch as of the fourth quarter of next year, but one thing is clear. It will be looking to cash in as much as possible by tying access to different types of content to different levels of service.
The curious thing is that the way that the tiers are described blend teas in a way that almost sounds like it is set up to confuse potential customers. Tier 1 will focus on “theatrical movies” while tier 2 will focus on original shows along with blockbuster films. How will the service define what a blockbuster movie is VS a theatrical movie? How much money will a movie have to make to be relegated to one tier or another? It’s third tier will include all of the other content found in the first two offerings along with an extensive library of WarnerMedia content, plus third-party content.
What does this all mean for consumers?
It means that there will be one more movie/TV service to take a look at. What kind of a value will they get from it? That depends on what kind of content is actually available on the service itself. By the fourth Quarter of 2019 Warner may be getting into this game way too late. By then Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney’s new Disney+ will be that much more established. The chances that people who are already happy with their current services are going to add another in droves at that point are not strong. Reporting from multiple sources has shows that there is a growing apathy when it comes to new services. The audience that is looking to streaming as its main TV source is not interested in building an expensive bundle of streaming services and is much more likely to just stick with a few faves.
What Will actually be offered on the Warner Media Service?
Who knows at this point. By then the DC Universe service may have already predictably folded. So maybe all of the content that is found on that will be folded into the yet unnamed offering. Movies from Warner Brothers sound like they will be part of the appeal. By leaving all specifics on programming out of the statements we can only guess at this point.
