Warner Bros Discovery scaling back HBO Max originals in Europe

Warner Bros Discovery has confirmed it is cutting back on commissioning HBO Max originals in Europe, with some territories ceasing production entirely.

David Zaslav

The merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery into a new company led by former Discovery CEO David Zaslav has already claimed significant casualties, with a slew of executive departures and a hiatus on commissioning in the factual arena causing headaches for prodcos.

Now, as part of a “review of our current content proposition on the existing services,” Warner Bros Discovery is also hacking back at its original commissioning in Europe, as first reported by Variety and confirmed to C21 by the company in a statement this afternoon.

Original commissioning will stop altogether in the Nordics, Central Europe, Netherlands and Turkey, though the company insists it is committed to these markets and will continue to make programmes for its Discovery linear networks there.

The statement read: “We have decided to remove a limited amount of original programming from HBO Max, as well as ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe. We have also ceased our nascent development activities in the newer territories of the Netherlands and Turkey, which had commenced over the past year.

“Our commitment to these markets has not changed. We will continue to commission local content for Warner Bros Discovery’s linear networks in these regions and we remain substantial acquirers of local third-party content for use on our streaming services.”