Foxtel poised to ink multi-year deal with US media giant Warner Bros Discovery

Australians viewers can be guaranteed access to some of the world’s biggest streaming shows including The White Lotus and House of the Dragon.

Theo James in the new season of The White Lotus. Picture: Binge/HBO

Foxtel Group is poised to sign a landmark content streaming deal with top-tier American studio Warner Bros Discovery as early as this week, securing access to multiple global hit series including The White Lotus and House of the Dragon.

The new multi-year deal – the dollar value of which has not been disclosed – is the culmination of months of top-level negotiations with the US media giant, and comes after the HBO parent company held meetings with executives from both Foxtel and Nine Entertainment’s streaming platform Stan late last year to discuss the future of its streaming services in Australia.

Foxtel’s existing deal is due to finish at the end of this year, with the new agreement extending it through until at least 2025.

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson.

The latest deal mirrors the last time Foxtel and Stan went head-to-head for HBO content in 2020 – on that occasion, Foxtel also outbid the Nine-owned platform for the rights.

The deal that is likely to be signed this week consolidates Foxtel’s position of strength in the streaming market and comes after News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said earlier this month that it remained one of the driving forces of the company.

“Streaming continues to be a core strength of Foxtel, as we have added well over half a million paying over-the-top subscribers in the past year,” he said. Latest figures show Foxtel Group has more than 4.4 million subscribers – up 10 per cent on the corresponding period last year – with total streaming numbers sitting at 2.7 million, an increase of 25 per cent year on year.

News Corp (publisher of The Australian) has a 65 per cent stake in the Foxtel Group – the remaining 35 per cent is owned by Telstra.

The latest deal with Warner Bros Discovery also follows Foxtel signing a new multi-year deal with NBCUniversal in November. That agreement delivered Foxtel’s subscribers access to a large library of content including movies and television shows, as well as content created for NBCU’s streaming service Peacock.

A Foxtel spokesman declined to comment on Sunday.

A Nine spokesman also declined to comment.