Warner Media Discontinues HBO & It’s Linear Lineup; Will Be Introducing More Animation Production
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Warner media is one of the biggest entertainment conglomerates in the world and on Thursday, the media group announced that they’ll be discontinuing its linear lineup in India including HBO from December 2020. That’s one sad news to wake up to!
The linear lineup isn’t just banned in India but also, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives starting December 15, 2020.
A report by ET Brand Equity mentioned the same and revealed that Warner Media will be focusing on the kid’s section with channels such as Cartoon Network and Pogo in the South Asia region, Campaign India.
“After 20 years of successes for the HBO linear movie channel in South Asia and more than a decade with the WB linear movie channel, this was a difficult decision to make,” Siddharth Jain, SVP and MD, Warner Media South Asia, said in an official statement as quoted by the report.
Jain further reiterated the decision and speaking about the pay-TV industry culture and market these days keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic, they accelerated this decision.
“We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all our partners and fans who have made HBO and WB household names. We also owe a debt of gratitude to all our employees who have worked so passionately on these well-loved brands. WarnerMedia has a strong interest in India and is committed to assessing optimal opportunities to serve valued customers here,” he said.
Warner Media operates channels like CNN and Cartoon Network in India. Gerhard Zeiler, head of international, WarnerMedia said, “If you want to be a strong global player, you have to be strong in Asia-Pacific. In India, we don’t have the scale that we want and where we have to be. In order to get there, the workhorse will be HBO Max.”
But the good news is that the kids are going to be really happy with this decision of increasing local animation channels. The Warner Media employees in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru will be handling the group kid’s brand operations and sales along with CNN international.
Although you can still stream the shows of HBO brand through Disney Plus Hotstar in India.
