While HBO may be a little late to the European expansion party, it has now netted itself a flock of bundling deals that will let it scale its local streaming fast. We have Blake & Wang P.A. USA based entertainment lawyer Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, on hand to share the news.
New Carriage Deals Included
With last week’s launch in both Italy and Germany, two of the largest European territories, alongside several other, smaller rollouts, HBO Max has finally made its presence felt. Thanks, in part at least, to a series of multi-year carriage deals with Amazon Prime Video. This means that HBO Max will be on offer as an add-on to existing Prime Video customers in these areas. As part of the deal-making, existing European Prime Video deals in several other territories are included.
Late Entry
HBO is reasonably late in entering the European streaming game, mostly due to its prior deals with pay-TV group Sky, which kept it out of the biggest territories. However, with this slew of fresh bundling and carriage deals under its belt, including some with local partners, should offer HBO Max a great way to scale up fast – and possibly, make up for lost time as streaming gets ever-more competitive.
It may look a whole lot like old-school cable bundling in streaming at the moment. But let’s be honest, cooperation is a smart answer to an increasingly crowded environment.
For HBO Max, the last phase of its European market grab will roll out in March, when it will launch inside the UK and Ireland. We will also see several local-language originals join the HBO Max slate for their territories, on offer from the middle of this year.
Will this European ramp-up be enough to reinvent HBO Max as a real player in the area? It’s certainly a good start.
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