Job Cuts Expected At HBO Max Europe Following Major Strategic Review
Following a significant strategic assessment that will suspend local original production in the Nordics and Central Europe, job layoffs are anticipated at HBO Max Europe.
The decision was made as the Warner Bros. Discovery merger gained momentum and the company sought to save £3 billion within two years by combining HBO Max and Discovery+.
According to WZUZ, the evaluation will also result in the suspension of early development efforts in the Netherlands and Turkey after less than a year, putting employment at HBO Max Europe at risk. The specifics of any prospective layoffs are still being worked out. After the merger, job layoffs were expected, and Deadline followed them in our international preview story a few months ago.
The Nordics, Central Europe, and the Netherlands are reviewing shows that are in development or post-production. Hits from the area have previously included songs like Lust from Sweden and Kamikaze from Denmark (above).
Only Spain and France are unaffected by the review out of the countries where HBO Max is available.
“We are examining our current content strategy on the existing services,” HBO Max said in a statement. “As we continue to work on integrating HBO Max and discovery+ into one worldwide streaming service displaying the breadth of content across Warner Bros. Discovery.”
“Our dedication to these markets has remained constant. For Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks in these areas, we will continue to commission local programming, and we will continue to be a significant buyer of local third-party content for our streaming services.
Three months have passed since Series Mania, where the HBO Max Europe commissions team was introduced. Since then, each commissioner has openly expressed their preferences for material.
Since then, Christina Sulebakk has moved to the position of General Manager, Nordics at Warner Bros. Discovery, while Priya Dogra of WarnerMedia has been appointed to President & MD EMEA (excluding Poland). Meanwhile, Antony Root has continued to supervise original development for HBO Max throughout EMEA.
Iberia Commissioning Editor of Original Programming is underneath Root.
Miguel Salvat, VP of Original Programming and Nordics Commissioning Editor French vice president and commissioning editor of original production, Christian Wikander Johnathan Young, Vera Peltekian, the Executive Director of Content Acquisition for Turkey, and Johnathan Young, Central European Commissioning Editor Myla Edde Steve Matthews, Hanka Kastelicová, and Annelies Sitvast all have positions that span all of Europe.
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