Audiences in the UK and Ireland will be able to continue viewing popular American shows after Sky extended and expanded its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery bringing HBO programming to screens outside the US.

Access to the new Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service, Max, will become a free part of Sky in 2026 when the platform launches. Viewers will be able to watch a version of the service with ads for free.

Up until that point, HBO shows including House Of The Dragon, The White Lotus, and The Last Of Us will continue to be available to Sky and NOW subscribers after the current deal was extended.

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HBO, which produced programming such as Succession and The Sopranos, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

Streaming service Netflix is already included in the Sky bundle alongside Sky Originals, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Netflix, Universal, Sony and Paramount programming.

The announcement on Monday also brings an end to litigation on the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, which is exclusive to Max.

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Sky had sued Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), saying it had an agreement that gave it the right to co-produce shows and wanted to partner on the latest Harry Potter incarnation.

Warner Bros and Discovery merged in 2022.

Sky chief executive Dana Strong said: “The combination of content from our partners, alongside our slate of Sky Originals, and Sky’s leading aggregation of the UK and Ireland’s best content apps gives us an unrivalled entertainment proposition and an exceptional line-up of the world’s best shows.”

Andrew Georgiou, the president and managing director for WBD UK and Ireland, said: “Our new agreement will continue Warner Bros. Discovery’s long-standing collaboration with Sky and deepen our relationship across distribution and now the bundling of Max.

“This will enable Max immediately at launch to be available to millions of passionate video subscribers, and separately be available to the more than 20 million other broadband households in the territories through Max direct-to-consumer and other partnerships.”