Carrie Bradshaw and the rest of the “Sex and the City” coterie are heading to a binge-watching date on Netflix.
Netflix has inked a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to license all six seasons of the popular HBO dramedy, comprising all 94 episodes, PvNew /confirm/ied. “Sex and the City” will land on Netflix in early April 2024.
The deal is not worldwide: The series will be available in the U.S. and several other European markets, sources familiar with the pact said. In addition, the deal does not include the two “SATC” feature-length films, nor does it include the recent spin-off “And Just Like That,” which is currently streaming only on WBD’s Max.
In “Sex and the City,” which originally aired on HBO from 1998-2004, Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Bradshaw, a New York writer who “finds inspiration for her column from the genuine, emotional and often humorous exploits of her friends and lovers.” Created by Darren Star and adapted from Candace Bushnell’s book anthology of the same name, the series co-stars Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall.
The deal comes after Warner Bros. Discovery last year licensed a handful of other older HBO originals to Netflix — a once-unthinkable proposition for the premium cable TV brand. HBO titles streaming on Netflix include Issa Rae’s “Insecure,” “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” “Six Feet Under” and “Ballers.” “True Blood,” which also is streaming in the U.S. on Disney’s Hulu, is available to Netflix subscribers outside the U.S. All of the shows remain available to stream on Max (formerly HBO Max) as well.
Netflix’s licensing pact for “Sex and the City” is the latest example of how traditional media companies — previously committed to keeping their own TV and film properties exclusive to their own streaming platforms — have changed their tune and are willing to cash Netflix’s checks in some cases. Disney, for example, recently licensed 14 shows to Netflix nonexclusively including “The Wonder Years,” “This is Us,” “White Collar,” “How I Met You Mother,” “Lost,” “Prison Break,” “Bernie Mac” and “Home Improvement,” under a deal that also will bring “Grey’s Anatomy” to Hulu (alongside its continued availability on Netflix).
“We are in the business of monetizing content through windows,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav said on the company’s Q3 2023 earnings call. While a lot of the company’s programming remains exclusively on Max as a key subscriber acquisition and retention mechanism, he said, “there’s a lot of content that’s not being consumed heavily on Max, and so those are the easy ones” to opt to license to third parties.
On Netflix’s Q4 2023 earnings call Tuesday, co-CEO Ted Sarandos, asked about the appetite of other networks and studios to license their content to Netflix, affirmed that the company is very much in the game and is sometimes “the best buyer for it.”
“I am thrilled that the studios are more open to licensing again, and I am thrilled to tell them we are open for business,” Sarandos said.
“We’ve got a rich history of helping break some of TV’s biggest hits, like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Walking Dead’ or, even more recently, with ‘Schitt’s Creek,'” Sarandos told analysts. “Because of our recommendation, our reach, we can resurrect a show like ‘Suits’ and turn it into a big pop-culture moment but also generate billions of hours of joy for our members.”
Sarandos continued, “I think you have to remember, the studios have always been in the business of selling their content to others, including direct competitors, for years. I believe, because, again, of our distribution heft and our recommendation system, that sometimes we can uniquely add more value to the studio’s IP than they can. Not all the time but sometimes it does, and we’re the best buyer for it.”
Netflix has powered to the dominant global subscription streaming service, having turned the corner into healthy profitability after years of bleeding red ink. As of the end of 2023, the company boasted 260.3 million total members globally, after gaining a better-than-expected 13.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s deal with Netflix for “Sex and the City” was previously reported by the New York Times.
