New Launches Ahead for HBL Max

Regardless of the drama around the sale of its Warner Bros. parent, HBO Max’s European rollout is forging ahead with new January launches. Review our entertainment attorney in Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, fills in their rollout plans.

Brandon Blake- Entertainment lawyer
Brandon Blake

Continued International Expansion

This launch will see HBO Max roll out across Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein on Jan 13, as wholly new markets for Warner Bros.’ flagship streamer. Despite the uncertainties surrounding their parent company at present, they have pushed ahead with their planned expansion into key European markets, and it will be completed in early 2026 with the launch of their UK and Irish services.

While this is a new launch for the UK, Italy, and Germany, they are already strong markets for HBO Max through a long-running exclusive partnership with Comcast-owned Sky.

100 Markets Strong

With these launches, HBO Max will now be available in over 100 markets in the ever-present hunt for new subscribers and market traction. With its much-respected back catalog of TV dramas, covering everything from Game of Thrones to The Pitt and The Last of Us, it certainly has a lot of traction to lean on. With some exciting upcoming releases as well, including another Game of Thrones spinoff and the new Harry Potter series, paired with the Winter Olympics for sports fans, they certainly have enough to tempt new subscribers.

In each of these markets, they are launching with 3 full tiers: Basic (with ads), Standard, and Premium. Additionally, there is a sports-focused add-on. Currently, HBO Max has 128M streaming subscribers across Europe, Central Asia, Asia-Pacific, the US, and Latin America.

Not bad, for a streaming platform that first launched in 2020. Now, all we are waiting for is news on who the winning bidder for Warner Bros. Discovery will be, and if they will be taking charge of the full company, or simply the Warner Bros. side of the business.

Japanese-Based Indie Film Financier Wins New State Support

The Japanese film industry to date has been characterized as conservative, partly held back by a dated film financing system. However, with the news that The Development Bank of Japan has made investment into K2 pictures, one of their most notable indie film financiers, that could be set to change. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles, USA, Brandon Blake, looks at what this could mean for Japanese indies.
Brandon Blake- Entertainment lawyer
Brandon Blake

New Film Production Fund

Tokyo-based K2 Pictures is looking to launch a new production fund. So far, so regular business. What’s new, however, is the interest from The Development Bank of Japan, or DBJ. It seems there’s growing institutional confidence not only in K2 itself, but also the chances of shaking up Japan’s rather stagnant film financing framework.

DBJ will be investing 500 million yen, about $3.3M, in the new fund. Locally, it’s been called an “unprecedented show of support” for local independent film, especially with a strong list of blue-chip companies adding even modest amounts to the fund.

A Shift in Thinking

It seems that Japan’s most conservative sector of all- finance- is starting to see K2’s support of independent filmmaking as a viable approach. It’s an interesting development, given local cinema is dominated by careful franchises and the odd anime blockbuster. This leads to co-financing models headed by full studio consortia, with an added dash of broadcasters and publishers.

In short, something that not only makes it difficult for smaller filmmakers to compete but is also widely believed to stifle creative autonomy. K2 instead uses a profit-sharing model. This helps to lower the middlemen fees considerably, in turn making financing and production incentives (slightly) easier to access.

From its inception, announced at the 2024 Cannes, K2 has also managed to attract some of Japan’s most influential filmmakers, with names even the West will easily recognize, and also onboarded one of the country’s anime powerhouses. This will be one for independent filmmakers to watch.

Lionsgate Enters Digital Movies with New Launch

After parting ways with Starz and, by default, their largest streaming platform, Lionsgate is back, with a new digital movie network on offer. You could review entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, fills us in on the details below
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Brandon Blake

DirecTV Debut

The new all-movie digital network will be used to give its extensive 20,000+ title library some extra (and lucrative) airtime. To be called MovieSphere Gold, it will see its debut on DirecTV, Sling Freestream, Friendly, and DishTV, with several other hosts lined up. To no one’s surprise, given the shifts in the streaming environment, it will be an ad-supported subscription service.

While there are plenty of movies on offer across the varied modern streaming sources, this will be the first dedicated solely to movie titles. Plus, of course, the fact that many of Lionsgate’s catalogue are not currently available through other streamers.

An Answer to Broadcasting?

Interestingly, with the recent spin-off of Starz and its linear assets, it seems that Lionsgate Studios is looking to replicate the TV broadcast model that worked so well for them, with a modern streaming twist to reinvent it. It’s not a bad bet, with digital broadcasting in this vein showing steady growth and even a little expansion. As the CEO noted, there are now 8 “diginets” using a similar setup among the Top 50 entertainment networks.

With the Lionsgate reputation and catalog to back it, MovieSphere Gold is an interesting exercise in reinventing old strategies. While they have no plans at present to move fully into a streaming platform framework, despite some solid TV assets under their belt as well, the remaining question is now how much subscriber uptake they will receive, as North American viewers become ever top-heavier on subscriptions. Will Lionsgate’s pull be enough to make it a success? Let’s hope to see it thrive.

Disney Plans $1B Increase in Content Spending

While the cost of producing content, especially for streaming, has been under the Wall Street spotlight for the past few years, there’s a truth to face: to win, you have to spend. With that in mind, the news that Disney, one of the most successful streaming studios to date, is planning to increase what it’s spending on its services will be a welcome one indeed- but not without an attached cautionary tale. Blake & Wang P.A. one of the top entertainment attorney Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, shares the facts and his thoughts.

Brandon Blake

Content Spending Increase Ahead

This past fiscal year, Disney spent $23B, and anticipates that rising to $24 billion for the year ahead. Mostly, this is earmarked to be funneled into live sports spending, an area of streaming that has increasingly become not only a drawcard to streaming platform subscriptions, but also a competitive force. However, it will also be split between new and existing film franchises and their TV content.

Comparing Balance Sheets

It’s worth comparing this to their latest quarterly earnings report, where we saw revenues of $22.5B, with segment operating income at the $3.5B mark. It was a strong quarter for the Mouse House, with Disney+ (their flagship service) increasing subscribers by 3.8M to close at 132M. Combined with Hulu, that was a 12.4M increase, closing at 196M total. The D2C revenue ticked up by 8% (to $6.2B), with operating income seeing a massive 39% increase to $352M.

While the news that most of the increase is earmarked for live sports spending will be disappointing for Hollywood, it’s also worth remembering that Disney has cut back on several lucrative rights deals this year, and given the increasing impact a strong sports lineup can have on streaming subscribers, it’s understandable.

However, with Paramount also announcing that the bulk of its increased content spending (earmarked at $1.5B for them) will go to sports rights as it tries to carve out its own streaming niche, there may be a wake-up call lurking for the entertainment industry at large, and there are definitely lessons to be learned as the new year looms.