Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone hit movie theaters 20 years ago today.
The network spent the next decade collecting the broadcast rights to the remaining films as they were released, culminating in the debut of Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in winter 2013.
Unlike most major properties, Harry Potter spent the bulk of its two decades of existence unavailable on streaming services, aside from brief stints at HBO.
The rights were split up, with NBCUniversal getting the cable rights on SyFy and USA for an estimated $250 million, with streaming going to Warner Bros.
The timing here is also key.
And now, with NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia both trying to get their own streaming service to take off, having the Harry Potter movies for recreating those rose-tinted memories of ABC Family weekends has become more important than ever.
So where does all that leave a Harry Potter fan just looking to be able to binge-watch with the boy wizard on a weekend whim? Well, you could try and keep track of where the Potter rights are at any given month.
But I would propose cutting through the Gordian Knot of terrible licensing deals entirely and pull a card from the network’s book: much like ABC, NBC, or HBO, just buy a copy of the film from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, or whichever digital retailer of choice you prefer.
The Harry Potter movies support the Movies Anywhere digital locker system, so if you buy them on one platform, you can sync them to virtually any major service.
Streaming was supposed to be the grand answer to the capricious cable calendar, promising a world where any movie could be watched whenever you want.