Harry Potter franchise’s HBO Max cameo is coming to an early end. The WarnerMedia streaming service was launched in May this year and it was expected to house Harry Potter movies for longer than merely 2 months.

But the decision has been made that the Harry Potter franchise will no longer be available on HBO Max. However, the end of term on HBO Max doesn’t mean that Potterheads won’t be able to stream Harry Potter movies online.

Later this year in October, all eight movies in the Harry Potter franchise are making their way to NBCU’s Peacock. Every movie in the franchise will be available to stream for free starting in October.

Unless the customer has a Peacock premium account, the streaming platform will have a few minutes of ads which may be bothering sometimes. However, some amount of annoyance is totally alright, if one doesn’t want any strain on pockets.   

For all those who were lured by Harry Potter’s availability into signing up for HBO Max, the news of Harry Potter going off must have come as a shock. Well, fans have got around 20 days to enjoy the Potter movies on Max if they wish to do so - as the franchise will be disappearing on August 25.

The window is long enough to finish watching all eight parts, but for a franchise that can be described as an awesome evergreen, the short-period availability is actually no alternative.

Frances Manfredi, the president of content acquisition and strategy for peacock has stated that the Potter franchise will be available on a periodic basis – the first streaming period will be lasting for only one month and the next one is expected to begin in early 2021. According to the reports, as of now, the franchise will play on the streaming service from October to March. However, the duration may change later in response to the rate of viewings and popularity.

Considering the back and forth movement of Potter, it seems possible that HBO Max and Peacock will work out a solution to collaborate for the online streaming of Harry Potter. However, no such news is around as of yet.

According to Manfredi, the continued ‘windowing’ of Harry Potter movies will help keep ‘the offering fresh.’ Manfredi’s content strategy makes some sense: if it’s always available, one might not be encouraged enough to check it out and watch, however, if the easy availability of movies is endangered, the interest will surely remain alive like new.