Here is why for 48 hours you can no longer see in France the series “Game of Thrones”, “Soprano”, “Six Feet Under”, “Sex and the City”, “The Wire”… Indeed, since the 1st January, the three million subscribers to the Orange channel package no longer have access to around sixty series stamped HBO, reported the specialized site Numerama.
Only the most recent seasons are still available, such as seasons 1 and 2 of “The White Lotus”, season 1 of “House of The Dragon” (the prequel to “Game of Thrones”) or season 3 of “Succession “. For others, series enthusiasts can now turn to… DVDs and Blu-rays or purchase episodes online.
In question: the end of the exclusive distribution contract which united HBO and OCS since 2017, their collaboration going back more generally to the creation of the French bouquet in 2008, which had made it its main asset. It was HBO who decided not to renew this contract, in order to reserve its programs for its home streaming platform, HBO Max, a time expected in France, we explain at OCS.
But the merger in 2022 of WarnerMedia, its parent company, with Discovery has changed the game, the new group, Warner Bros Discovery, planning to merge the HBO Max and Discovery + platforms, also unavailable in France. Hence the immediate absence of a broadcaster for these productions popular with series fans.
Contacted by AFP, the Warner Bros Discovery group said it wanted to “share its content as widely as possible with the French public”.
“Discussions are underway,” added the same source, planning to “say more soon”, without further details.
In the absence of an exclusive broadcaster, agreements could be found on a case-by-case basis with the various platforms established in France – including OCS -, in particular for the series “The last of Us”, adaptation of the video game of the same name expected mid -January across the Atlantic, or the sequel to “House of The Dragon”.
Loss-making and for sale, OCS is currently the subject of negotiations between Orange and Canal+.