AT&T ‘discussed HBO Europe sale’

WarnerMedia’s owner AT&T has considered selling pay TV broadcaster HBO Europe to alleviate some of its US$170bn debut, The Financial Times has reported.

No formal discussions with potential buyers are in progress, according to those familiar with the matter, the FT stated.

However, several current and former senior executives have told the UK newspaper that internal discussions about selling the European arm of HBO have taken place.

These are said to have “soured” relationships between WarnerMedia’s new owners and various veteran executives at the company, where Game of Thrones premium cablenet HBO is one of its most prized assets.

Long-serving HBO chief Richard Plepler and Turner president David Levy have been among the execs to leave WarnerMedia (then known as Time Warner) since its US acquisition by AT&T.

The firm declined to comment to the FT but have since issued a statement, seen by C21, that denies the reports as “baseless”.

“We normally do not comment on speculation, but when a news outlet is advised that their reporting is factually incorrect and report it anyway, we feel compelled to set the record straight,” said John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia.

“There is no truth whatsoever to the Financial Times’ story saying AT&T is or has considered selling HBO Europe. It’s completely baseless and inaccurate. HBO Europe is a valuable asset for our growth plans in Europe.”

Comcast, which recently acquired European pay TV firm Sky, could buy HBO Europe, according to the report, which states AT&T has considered selling other assets to cut its debt.

In Europe, HBO, which also has divisions in Latin America and Asia, consists of linear channels in Central and Eastern Europe and VoD platforms elsewhere.

It has been commissioning original content from CEE since 2010, while more recently it has stepped up that strategy in territories such as Scandinavia and Spain.