Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max has signed a bundling deal with German streaming platform RTL+, which will see the two companies offer their services to local consumers under a single joint subscription.
The deal comes ahead of HBO Max’s official launch in Germany on Jan. 13. The launch will be accompanied by a publicity blitz, including the world premiere of HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, in Berlin next week.
RTL and HBO are already close collaborators. RTL’s media sales house Ad Alliance handles ad sales for the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer and, last fall, RTL extended its long-standing content partnership with HBO parent Warner Bros. Discovery, licensing an extensive package of WBD and HBO films and series for both RTL’s linear channels and its RTL+ streaming service.
Under the bundling deal, German consumers will be able to subscribe to both RTL+ and HBO Max for €11.99 ($14) per month for the ad-supported version of the two services, or €17.99 ($21) per month for the ad-free option. That compares to around $18 and $33 per month if both services are booked separately.
There is little crossover between the two streamers. RTL+ is a broad appeal operation offering live premium sports (including the UEFA Europa League) and event shows, as well as local-language dramas, films and reality-TV series. HBO Max’s German offering will include its premium series franchises (Game of Thrones, The White Lotus, The Last of Us) and library titles (Sex and the City, Friends) alongside top-tier movie titles from parent Warner Bros. (Sinners, Superman, Weapons).
“RTL+ and HBO Max – that’s a great combination of two terrific content worlds,” gushed RTL Germany CEO Stephan Schmitter. “The most successful national content on RTL+, from reality TV to fiction to sports, in a joint offering with top series, iconic blockbuster movies, and much more from HBO Max. With this bundle, we are igniting the next stage in the success story of RTL+ and preparing HBO Max for its big market launch in Germany.”
HBO’s approach, bundling its premium offering with a broad-reach local-language service, mirrors a similar deal between French broadcaster TF1 and Netflix, that will kick off this summer. In an increasingly competitive streaming market, platforms are seeing the benefits of aggregation, creating business models that look a lot like old school cable bundling.
The HBO Max/RTL+ deal comes as Netflix is making a bid for WBD, a deal that could reshuffle the entire global streaming business. Any WBD buyout will have to first be approved by European anti-trust authorities, which may object to two of the continent’s leading streaming services being brought together under the same roof.
HBO Max is a late-comer to the streaming game in Germany, as well as the U.K. and Italy, where a multi-year licensing deal with pay-TV group Sky prevented it from launching until this year. RTL acquired Sky Germany last summer. HBO Max will launch across German-speaking Europe and Italy next week and will bow in the U.K. and Ireland in March.