HBO Takes Full Ownership of Central European Venture

NEW YORK: Home Box Office has acquired 100-percent ownership of HBO Central Europe, previously operated as a joint venture of subsidiaries of HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company. 

“Over the past few years, HBO has moved from a series of minority equity positions to majority ownership of all of its international joint ventures,” said Simon Sutton, the president of programming distribution and international at HBO. “We believe HBO Asia, HBO India, HBO Latin America and now HBO Central Europe are strong businesses that are well positioned to take advantage of the expanding marketplace.”

The channels will continue to have output deals with the studios, including Warner Bros., Disney and Sony, as well as access to the premium channel’s original productions from the U.S. HBO Central Europe consists of a portfolio of linear channels as well as an SVOD service. Its footprint includes Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.