HBO Max Will Stop Making Originals in Parts of Europe in Major Cost-Cutting Move

thewrap.com:

$43 million merger that formed Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022, the company is cutting costs by adjusting its strategy for HBO Max in parts of Europe.

The newly merged company confirmed on Monday that it plans to no longer produce originals in the Nordics and Central Europe, as well as the Netherlands and Turkey, two territories where the media conglomerate had begun development activities in the past year. “As we continue to work on combining HBO Max and Discovery+ into one global streaming service showcasing the breadth of content across Warner Bros.

Discovery, we are reviewing our current content proposition on the existing services,” the company said in a statement to TheWrap.“As part of this process, we have decided to remove a limited amount of original programming from HBO Max, as well as ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe,” the statement continued. “We have also ceased our nascent development activities in the newer territories of Netherlands and Turkey, which had commenced over the past year.”“Our commitment to these markets has not changed.

We will continue to commission local content for Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks in these regions and we remain substantial acquirors of local third-party content for use on our streaming services.”This decision marks the removal of popular originals in the region, including Danish family drama “Kamikaze,” Swedish comedy “Lust” and Hungarian drama “The Informant,” which will all be removed from the service, according to Variety..