With the proposed merger between streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus reportedly underway, a Warner Bros Discovery exec has revealed plans to bring its new, as-yet-unannounced streaming service to the Asia-Pacific region in 2024.
In exclusive comments made to The Australian, Warner Bros Discovery’s president and managing director of the western Pacific region (China, ANZ, Japan) James Gibbons discussed company plans to bring a new digital subscription platform to Australia following a US rollout later this year.
"We are going to be launching our new streaming service in the US this year," said Gibbons. He continued, "After that we’re going to be rolling that service out in the Asia-Pacific region from the second half of 2024."
What can we expect?
Early rumours suggested that Warner Bros Discovery would be bringing HBO Max to Australia in the near future. However, with the future of HBO Max in the US also unclear, it appears that the new service will instead fulfil the long-rumoured merger of HBO Max and fellow streaming platform Discovery Plus.
"The first order of business is to really combine those services (HBO Max and Discovery Plus) and make one ‘uber’ service that can target a wide audience," said Gibbons.
Of course, how this will effect Australia's current HBO licence holder the Foxtel Group remains to be seen. This past February, the Foxtel Group entered a multi-year deal with Warner Bros Discovery, giving Foxtel and Binge exclusive rights to HBO content such as Euphoria (pictured), The Last of Us and The White Lotus in Australia for the foreseeable future.
Obviously a service that combines HBO Max with Discovery Plus would need HBO content in order to be worthwhile, so we suspect some serious negotiations will have to take place in order for this new service to launch in Australia.
In the meantime, here's how you can watch HBO Max shows in Australia.
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