All five seasons of Issa Rae’s acclaimed HBO series “Insecure” made a surprise appearance on Netflix on Monday, confirming the deal for Netflix to stream HBO content is complete. A person with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that the deal closed late last week.
“Insecure” is the first of several HBO originals that will stream on Netflix, including World War II limited series “Band of Brothers,” Emmy-winning drama “Six Feet Under,” Dwayne Johnson’s “Ballers” and supernatural sensation “True.” Blood” is included. “Following, according to the same person.” Netflix streaming dates for those series have yet to be determined.
The deal marks the first time in a decade that HBO content has been licensed to a rival within the United States. The HBO show was previously licensed to Amazon to stream on Prime Video, but that deal was done before Prime Video could become a serious competitor in the originals sector.
The deal comes as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav promised Wall Street that its streaming business would turn profitable by the end of 2023 and generate $1 billion in profit by 2025. Previously, Zaslav removed original titles from HBO Max (and later Max). In an effort to give them licenses for other outlets including FAST services.
The company struck a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) deal with Roku and Tubi in January, with the services agreeing to license 2,000 hours of content and launching a range of channels to air its movies and television shows. agreed. Warner Bros. Discovery also plans to launch its own FAST service this year, though the timing of that has yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, Netflix is welcoming to licensed titles as licensed content regularly appears in the streaming service’s top 10 list. Case in point: USA drama series “Suits” is the #3 most watched TV show on Netflix as of Monday.
Created by Rae and Larry Wilmore, “Insecure,” released in 2016 and ending in 2021, earned multiple Primetime Emmy nominations and a Peabody win throughout its run.
