If you live in Europe and hoping to see more locally produced originals on HBO Max, those hopes have been slightly dashed as the streaming service confirmed in an exclusive report from Variety that it would be holding productions in some countries.
The move comes in the wake of recent split from AT&T, as HBO Max’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is looking at ways to trim any excess given that it has to find a way to account for the estimated $3 billion it no longer has access to.
As such, original productions in selected European countries have been caught up in the cost cutting exercise.
To that end Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey will no longer see investment from the streaming service in developing original content. This leaves France and Spain the only European nations to receive continued support.
“As we continue to work on combining HBO Max and discovery+ into one global streaming service showcasing the breadth of content across Warner Bros. Discovery, we are reviewing our current content proposition on the existing services. As part of this process, we have decided to remove a limited amount of original programming from HBO Max, as well as ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe,” a spokesperson told Variety.
“We have also ceased our nascent development activities in the newer territories of Netherlands and Turkey, which had commenced over the past year. Our commitment to these markets has not changed. We will continue to commission local content for Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks in these regions and we remain substantial acquirers of local third-party content for use on our streaming services,” they added.
What this means for regions where HBO Max has no presence yet, like South Africa, remains to be seen.
Given that efforts are being made to cut costs, it is looking increasingly unlikely that a local launch of the service this year will occur. This especially as Disney+ recently launched in SA and is looking to expand into other regions in the African continent, despite a shaky start.
[Source – Variety]
