Sky currently benefits from a highly lucrative output deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in key European territories, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Austria. This agreement grants Sky exclusive first window rights to HBO content. According to Show Tracker, since the 2019/20 TV season, over 20% of Scripted TV Shows premiering on Sky-owned channels originated from Warner. In each of these seasons, except for 2023/24, Warner-distributed content on Sky-owned channels consistently held the highest share of Scripted TV Show premieres in Germany.
Scripted TV Shows that premiered on Sky-owned channels from 2018 onwards enjoyed a premium set of rights, including both In-Season-Stack and In-Season-Boxset. Following the use of such premium rights, these TV shows often become library content for other services. According to Show Tracker, Scripted TV Shows initially aired on Sky-owned channels in Germany frequently appear on various services, including Global SVODs and Broadcast-Free platforms such as Paramount+, Joyn, Disney+, and ZDF. Global SVOD and Free TV services remain the most popular types for the second window premiere, representing over 60% of second window premieres between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 Annual TV Season.
Following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, which prompted many media companies to shift away from their traditional strategies, content windowing has undergone a significant change. Scripted TV Shows that initially premiered on Sky-owned channels have quickly appeared on other services in Germany. The most high profile example is the HBO hit 'House of Dragons,' which aired in Germany on August 23, 2022 on Sky Atlantic and premiered as a second window on ProSieben’s AVOD service Joyn on January 1, 2024, with full boxset rights.
In 2023, US studios made strategic shifts to monetise their content, moving from selling library content and holding on to premium content to selling their premium content. Warner is currently set, however, to let its lucrative deals with Sky expire in order to bring Max to markets like UK, Germany and Italy in their place in 2026. Deals like ‘House of the Dragon’ on Joyn may help plant the seed for some of their titles to continue to appear on third-party services in second windows after Max, with the studio now confident in striking the balance between supporting its own services and licensing to third parties as it is doing in other markets.
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