HBO Europe’s Root to the future

TALKING SHOP: Pay-TV channel HBO Europe has been ramping up its original production strategy under exec VP of original programming and production Antony Root, who joined from Sony Pictures Television in 2011.
HBO Europe is a major presence across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), running 11 channels and two VoD services in 15 countries including Poland and the Czech Republic.
The broadcaster also operates four production bases, in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania, and is working on series such as original action thriller Wataha and comedy drama Small Time Gangster, a remake of an Australian series.

"We are very ambitious about building an original slate of programming in the region that clearly differentiates us from the commercial and public service broadcasters that are, in one sense, our competitors," says Root.

Root also discusses the genres that it could push into in future and gives his thoughts on Netflix's imminent arrival in more European countries later this year.