HBO plans to launch a steaming service in Spain later this year that will compete directly with Netflix.
Bloomberg reports the Time Warner company will retain the exclusive rights to its shows for the service and no longer licence its programming to pay-TV operations in the country.
It also quotes Richard Pleper, the company’s CEO, as saying: “we follow the money. We’re making a determination of where we think the profits must lie”.
HBO has operated the web-only channel HBO Nordic in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark since 2012. It has since introduced similar services in the US and Colombia, with a view to making them widely available in Latin America.
HBO’s Spanish service is likely to be similarly priced to HBO Nordic, which after a difficult start now has around 650,000 subscribers.
Broadband take-up is high in Spain, with, unusually, around half of households subscribing to services but not pay-TV.
HBO’s new service will find itself in competition not only with Netflix, which made its debut in the country last October, but a several other streaming offers.
