HBO takes on Netflix in Spain

US premium cablenet HBO is planning to take on Netflix in Spain with a new VoD service.

The move follows Netflix’s arrival in Spain last October and its expansion into a further 130 countries earlier this month.

Time Warner-owned HBO will keep exclusive rights to its shows for the service and will no longer licence its programming to Spanish pay TV operators, according to Bloomberg.

Since 2012, HBO has operated web-only channel HBO Nordic in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Similar services in the US and Colombia have also been launched.

It is understood the new service could be priced the same as HBO Nordic, which currently has around 650,000 subscribers.

The news comes amid speculation that Time Warner could spin off its lucrative HBO business as it looks to compete with global streamers such as Netflix.