HBO Max's licence application approved

ISTANBUL

The license application of HBO Max, combining HBO’s library of original series and TV shows provided by Warner Bros. Discovery, for streaming in Türkiye has been approved, Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) chair Ebubekir Şahin has announced.

“The license application made by the global brand @hbomax for the right to stream in our country has been approved,” Şahin wrote on his Twitter account.

“Our support to every organization that abides by the laws of our country and respects our social values ​​continues today as it was yesterday,” he added.

In July, the platform announced that it had stopped the activities planned to be implemented in Türkiye and a few European countries.

Financial savings were behind the decision to stop its activities in Türkiye, which came upon a major restructuring, officials said.

While Netflix, the giant streamer with the most subscribers, reported quarterly earnings results in April that showed its subscriber numbers dropping for the first time in a decade, HBO’s numbers showed it added nearly 13 million subscribers last year across both traditional HBO and HBO Max, including the growth of 3 million in the last quarter.

Now both services combine for 76.8 million subscribers worldwide, which is still behind Netflix’s 221.64 million and even the most recent Disney Plus count of 129.8 million.

In summer 2023, HBO Max will merge with Discovery+ to form a new streaming service designed to offer the best of both platforms. It’s not yet clear how much the new service will cost or how current subscribers will be transitioned to the combined app.

HBO Max launched in 15 additional countries on March 8, including the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Serbia.

The streaming service will expand to six more European countries later this year, including Greece, WarnerMedia said earlier.