HBO Max set for June Lat Am launch

WarnerMedia will roll out its HBO Max streaming service across 39 territories in Latin America and the Caribbean in June.

Johannes Larcher

The launch will be the direct-to-consumer platform’s first outside the US and will include a slate of programming from WarnerMedia brands HBO, DC and Warner Bros.

The service will also come with a catalogue of kids’ content and a line-up of local original productions from home-grown talent.

Plans for a Lat Am roll-out of the service were unveiled at the end of 2020 and the US firm has been rejigging its team in the region in preparation, with HBO Lat Am veterans Roberto Rios and Luis F Peraza leaving last month and MBC Group’s Luis Duran coming in as general manager.

Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International, said: “By combining HBO with the very best of WarnerMedia’s series and film catalogue, as well as locally produced content from master storytellers in Latin America, HBO Max will offer fans in the region an unforgettable and enriching entertainment experience.”

At launch, existing HBO GO direct-billed customers, as well as those who are billed through eligible partners, will get instant access to HBO Max. The existing HBO GO service in Latin America and the Caribbean will be phased out. Subscribers will have access to a new HBO Max app that mirrors the product experience available in the US.

Content will range from preschool, with collections from Cartoon Network and Looney Tunes Cartoons, to teen and adult, from brands like HBO, Warner Bros, New Line, DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV and Adult Swim. The platform’s line-up also includes local original titles under the Max Originals brand.

HBO-branded streaming services in the Nordics, Spain, Central Europe and Portugal are scheduled to be upgraded to HBO Max later this year.