Variety: ‘Fixer Upper’ and Other Magnolia Network Shows Coming to HBO Max in September

Story from Variety:

Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network lineup, including all five seasons of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” will begin streaming on HBO Max in September, Variety has learned exclusively.

According to a WarnerMedia source, “select” titles from Magnolia Network will come to the streamer Friday, Sept. 30, as part of a page featuring “curated” content from the Gaineses, which includes “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home,” “Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines” and “The Lost Kitchen,” among other series.

The former HGTV superstars launched their Magnolia linear and streaming channel in partnership with Discovery last year, before Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia.

Industry sources say that a new series “Fixer Upper: The Castle,” which centers on the Gaines’ overhauling their 100-year old castle in Waco, Texas, will premiere on HBO Max, along with the linear Magnolia Network and Discovery+, on Oct. 14.

More Magnolia Network content will be added to HBO Max over time, but also continue to be available on Discovery+, which costs $4.99 per month with commercials compared to HBO Max’s $9.99 ad-supported plan, the Warner Bros. Discovery source says.

The news comes ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q2 earnings report and presentation later today which is expected to be when Warner Bros. Discovery's CEO David Zaslav & co. reveal more about the future of HBO Max and Discovery+ — which are set to be combined into one platform at some point — and plans for the rest of the company.

Magnolia Network first launched digitally as a label within Discovery+ and as a stand-alone app in July 2021. It bowed in January as a linear channel rebranded from Discovery’s DIY Network.

As Variety exclusively reported in April ahead of the close of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia and rebrand into Warner Bros. Discovery, it was decided that oversight of Magnolia Network, a joint venture between the Gaineses and Discovery, would move under the team at HBO.

In this new structure, president of Magnolia Allison Page now reports directly to HBO and HBO Max content chief Casey Bloys. Bloys is one of the few top WarnerMedia execs still standing following the mass exodus that first began ahead of the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger’s close and has continued on as Zaslav slowly reveals his new leadership team and structure.

The fact that HBO and Bloys are heading up the lifestyle brand from the “Fixer Upper” stars, rather than Warner Bros. Discovery chairman and chief content officer for U.S. networks group Kathleen Finch, is a notable sign of integration among the two companies, given that the couple has long been deeply tied to the identity of the legacy Discovery, due to the Gaineses’ origins as HGTV icons.