Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that Raised by Wolves and Made for Love are among the HBO Max originals being removed from the platform. The company plans to license these two shows and others to third-party free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. Next year, Warner Bros. Discovery plans to launch its own WBD FAST channel.
Made for Loveย was a science-fiction series created by Alissa Nutting, Dean Bakopoulos, Patrick Somerville and Christina Lee, based on Nutting’s 2017 novel. Cristin Milioti starred as a woman who learned that her tech billionaire husband (Billy Magnussen) was harvesting “emotional data” from her and keeping her trapped on his isolated estate. The first season was released in April 2021 and the second in April and May 2022. It earned mostly positive reviews and an Emmy nomination for cinematography.
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Raised by Wolvesย was also a sci-fi series, and began with two episodes directed by Ridley Scott. Created by Aaron Guzikowski, the show focused on androids who are tasked with raising human children after Earth is destroyed in a future war. The first season was released in September and October 2020, while Season 2 was released in February and March 2022. The show also earned positive reviews and earned an Emmy nomination for its main title design.
Gordita Chronicles, Love Life, Made for Love, The Garcias, and Minxย will be leaving HBO Max in the future. Westworld, The Nevers, Raised by Wolves, FBOY Island, Legendary, Finding Magic Mike, Head of the Classย and The Time Traveler’s Wifeย have already been removed and are designated as FAST offerings. While most of these are HBO Max originals, Westworld and The Neversย are notable as big-budget shows originally produced for the linear HBO channel.
The decision to move these shows off HBO Max for a different monetization opportunity comes as Warner Bros. Discovery continues its seemingly never-ending quest to find more ways to cut costs and new revenue streams. In a securities filing Wednesday, the company said it now expects to take writeoffs and impairments connected to content and development costs between $2.8 billion and $3.5 billion, more than previously projected, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
“As shared on previous earnings call and stated by senior executives, Warner Bros. Discovery continues to strategically assess how best to maximize audiences and monetization opportunities for its content,” WBD said in a statement. “The company has recently decided to license certain HBO and HBO Max original programming to third-party FAST services to be part of a packaged offering which will drive new, expanded audiences for these series.”
FAST Channelsย are streaming channelsย that offer non-stop streaming of scheduled content. Examples of FAST platforms include Pluto TV, Tubi, and Amazon’s Freevee. If executives at Pluto TV are interested in these HBO Max/HBO shows, users could see an HBO channel that streams programming 24/7. There could even be a channel dedicated to showing Westworld on a loop. When WBD launches its own FAST in the future, you could even see a Game of Thrones channel taking viewers to Westeros non-stop.
