HBO Max to expand to Latin America

HBO Max is set to expand into Latin America after the streamer’s parent AT&T-owned WarnerMedia agreed a deal to take full control of HBO Ole Partners.

WarnerMedia will acquire Ole’s minority stake in HBO Ole Partners, the joint venture set up in 1991 between WarnerMedia and Ole Communications, which will hand it 100% ownership of all HBO, MAX, Cinemax and HBO Go services in Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean.

Financial details have not been revealed and the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals, but once completed, HBO Ole Partners will fall under the remit of Gerhard Zeiler, chief revenue officer at WarnerMedia & president, WarnerMedia International Networks.

Zeiler said the deal “will allow us to bring localised versions” of HBO Max to consumers in the region, although the ownership structure of HBO Brasil Partners, another joint venture between the companies, remains unchanged.

WarnerMedia has an option to acquire that business, but said it was not doing so at present because “additional, direct investment in Brazil is not currently attractive to us because of the existing regulatory uncertainty in the country.” The US company added that Ole Communications would continue its basic channel distribution business in Latin America.