Warner Bros. Discovery plans to launch HBO Max in the UK and Ireland next March.
Casey Bloys, chairman and chief executive officer of HBO and HBO Max Content, confirmed the date at the Global Slate presentation in London on Wednesday night.
Line-up and pricing details have yet to be revealed, but the news comes nearly a year after WBD confirmed it would not be extending its long-standing exclusive HBO production deal with Britain’s Sky.
In exchange, WBD and Sky’s parent company Comcast have agreed to offer an ad-supported version of HBO Max to Sky customers’ packages at no extra cost.
WBD, which is no longer benefiting from Sky, will also be able to offer direct to consumers on HBO Max or enter into third-party deals with carriers, with executives previously pointing to the non-exclusive nature of the updated Sky deal.
No deals with third-party carriers have yet been confirmed in the UK apart from Sky, but WBD has deals in place with companies such as Amazon in Europe and the US.
programs such as Penguin, White Lotus, The Last of Us and Dune: Prophecy All of these may be available to HBO Max subscribers.
Earlier today, WBD revealed that HBO Max will launch in Italy and Germany on January 14th next year.
The rollout also includes release in Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, supported by new originals including a German drama. 4 block zerothe first part of the hit gangster drama 4 blocks However, no announcement has yet been made about the streamer’s UK original.
WBD launched HBO Max in the US in 2020 and has been expanding the streamer across Europe for the past two years.
It currently counts approximately 130 million subscribers in more than 100 markets around the world.
This story first appeared on Broadcast, Screen’s sister site.
