Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery and their respective counsels said today that they had agreed to a voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit lodged last month that had an upcoming HBO Harry Potter series in the middle. The news was expected after Sky parent Comcast and WBD announced a new global distribution deal earlier today.
Sky, which operates in the UK, Germany and Italy, sued WBD in September for acting in bad faith in a five-year output deal with HBO — mainly by not giving it access to enough programming under the contract. Sky was particularly irked by a planned HBO Harry Potter series to launch in 2026 after the output deal was set to expire (in 2025).
The action filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York “is voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice against the defendant(s) WarnerMedia Direct, LLC and without costs pursuant to … the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” read a document filed by Sky UK Ltd., Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.
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The deal announced today sees Comcast and WBD in long-term agreements that will deliver WBD’s extensive portfolio of content to Xfinity and Sky UK and Ireland customers using Comcast’s global technology platform across linear television, apps, and streaming services. It will allow Comcast to package Max into its streaming bundles if it wishes.
Comcast said the renewal agreements further the companies’ longstanding distribution relationship with WBD’s portfolio of linear cable networks for Xfinity TV customers, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, and Investigation Discovery.
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