Warner Bros Discovery has announced its soon to be rebranded stream platform will extend into another 12 markets in July.
The addition of Albania, Armenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Tajikistan will bring HBO Max close to 100 markets.
Speaking at NEM Dubrovnik, Jamie Cooke, EVP & GM Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. said that some of the new territories would involve working with local partners, in the same way Warner Bros Discovery had with Blu TV in Turkey. “A lot of these markets are going to be very reliant on partners because the direct to consumer opportunity is probably a little bit smaller. We don’t have the presence in those countries like we do in other places.
“And we’ve recently announced that we are investing in OSN in the Middle East and it’s a similar kind of equation there. Again, very crowded landscape from a streaming perspective. Local content, really, really important. It wouldn’t really help, I don’t think the consumer for us just to come in with yet another product. So these are kind of the choices that we make as we think about the rollout.”
The new markets will have access to content that includes A Minecraft Movie, the Harry Potter movies, returning series like The Last of Us, The White Lotus, The Pitt and Peacemaker, and future series such as Task, and IT: Welcome to Derry – as well as established series such as Friends and The Big Bang Theory, and 90 Day Fiancé from TLC and Gold Rush from Discovery. A premium sports option will be available in selected territories.
Said Cooke: “Reputation in terms of HBO is that you, you know, when penetrating a new, a new region, new area, new country, is that, does that make it easier for you or is your job even harder? Because people have certain expectations from something that is so familiar in terms of brands.”
Launches in the Sky territories of the UK, Germany and Italy will take place next year.
The global expansion of HBO Max follows earlier 2025 launches in Australia and Türkiye. Additional launches are planned in 2025 and into 2026 as momentum continues to build for HBO Max. WBD ended the first quarter of 2025 with 122.3 million streaming subscribers, an increase of 5.3 million from the previous quarter.
