Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Crackle, DC Universe, Disney Streaming, Crunchyroll… All of these companies have staked out a claim as alternative streaming services to traditional cable. As if the market wasn’t crowded enough, it is now being reported that Warner Bros will be joining the pack with a new streaming offering once their merger with ATT goes through in late 2019. This would mark the company’s second streaming network after the DC Streaming Universe. It will be interesting to see if they two are kept separate or if they are blended together. One thing is for sure, they better bring something special to the party if they want some of that streaming service money that seems to be getting pulled in more and more directions.
News of the new network came from WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey earlier today:
“Today we announced plans to launch a new direct-to-consumer streaming service in the fourth quarter of 2019. This is another benefit of the AT&T/Time Warner merger, and we are committed to launching a compelling and competitive product that will serve as a complement to our existing businesses and help us to expand our reach by offering a new choice for entertainment with the WarnerMedia collection of films, television series, libraries, documentaries and animation loved by consumers around the world. We expect to create such a compelling product that it will help distributors increase consumer penetration of their current packages and help us successfully reach more customers.”
It’s starting to feel like we are moving far to close to oversaturation when it comes to streaming content.