Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has laid out plans to launch their cornerstone streaming service Max in Europe.
Regional variations of Max will debut in mid-May to streamers in Central and Eastern Europe, Iberia and the Nordic countries, followed by launches in Poland, the Netherlands, France and Belgium shortly afterward.
The launches are intended to bring Max to streamers in key parts of Europe before the start of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. WBD shares the rights to the games with regional broadcasters in Europe, and airs select events from the Olympics on its pan-continental sports network Eurosport.
In some countries where Max is debuting, streamers will have access to WBD-owned linear channels like Eurosport and CNN International, the company said in a statement. Max will also offer country-specific channels owned by WBD, including TVN in Poland, TV Norge in Norway and Kanal 5 in Sweden.
A sports add-on will also be available in certain countries, which will unlock access to coverage of the Wimbledon and U.S. Open tennis tournaments, the Tour de France cycling competition and certain World Cup events.
“Max is the streaming home of Warner Bros. Discovery and builds on our long heritage in Europe, bringing together an incredible breadth and depth of culture-defining entertainment from our services and networks, all in one place,” J.B. Perrette, the CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at WBD, said in a statement.
Perrette continued: “The unrivalled content we’ve got on Max from House of the Dragon to Olympic Games Paris 2024 and beyond means whatever your mood or the occasion, Max has something great for everyone, every time.”
In many parts of Europe, WBD already operates a streaming service called Discovery Plus, which offers a mixture of on-demand content and linear channels. The service is sold on a standalone basis, and is distributed through some third party platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video Channels on a regional basis.
It wasn’t clear from the announcement if WBD intends to merge its Discovery Plus and Max streaming services when the latter rolls out in Europe. WBD incorporated Discovery Plus content into Max when the service launched in the United States last year, but the company continues to operate Discovery Plus as a standalone, low-cost entertainment service.
