HBO (international)
HBO, which was originally established as a premium cable television channel in the United States, has expanded worldwide. Since 1991, Home Box Office, Inc. has overseen a number of partnerships that operate HBO-branded television networks around the world. As HBO was launched in new markets, the brand has been used in several countries.
While in some countries, it operates using a subscription-based model akin to that of the U.S. service, in others it is offered as a basic cable channel. Although HBO has the right to distribute its original programs for broadcast in other countries, the terms of its licensing agreements with film studios only retains it the right to broadcast them within the United States and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, therefore film rights for the international channels must be licensed separately.
There is one currently HBO-branded channel not operated by WarnerMedia, namely the Canadian version operated by Bell Media as part of its Crave service. HBO also has partnerships with international networks / services that do not carry the HBO branding but with which the channel has major program distribution agreements; several of these are permitted to refer to themselves as the "Home of HBO", such as with Sky Atlantic in parts of Europe, Fox Showcase in Australia, and OCS in France.
The Americas
Brazil
was launched in 1991 as a partnership between Grupo Abril's TVA, Time Warner and Sony. It was developed as an analogue pay channel, but used UHF broadcast frequencies and ran its programming for nine hours each day. After the Brazilian financial crisis of the late 1990s, Grupo Abril sold its share in the network to Time Warner.Canada
Canadian rights to HBO-owned and -distributed programming are held by Bell Media, the mass-media affiliate of telecom company Bell Canada. Programming is offered through Bell's Crave pay TV service, which includes an HBO-branded multiplex channel which launched in 2008 and features the U.S. channel's original programming; the over-the-top Crave streaming service; and Bell's French-language pay TV service Super Écran, along with some of the company's basic French cable channels. Outside of the required brand licensing to use the HBO trademarks and logo, HBO parent WarnerMedia does not have an ownership interest in these services.The HBO multiplex channel was launched as "HBO Canada" on October 30, 2008 as a joint venture between the regional Canadian pay TV services The Movie Network and Movie Central. Prior to that date, both services had regularly featured HBO programming on their other channels, however some programs had aired on other broadcast or basic cable channels.
Beginning in 2013, most Canadian rights to HBO programming have been consolidated under Bell Media. Bell acquired TMN's parent company in 2013, licensed streaming rights to the HBO back-catalog in 2014, and purchased the distribution rights and subscriber base of Movie Central, as well as additional HBO programming rights, in 2015-16.
Crave also holds Canadian pay/streaming rights to the majority of theatrical films that premiere in the U.S. on HBO, although they air on Crave's other channels, not the Canadian HBO linear channel.
By coincidence, Bell Canada was formerly part-owned by current WarnerMedia parent company AT&T until 1975, however Bell's relationship with HBO predates AT&T's 2018 acquisition of WarnerMedia.
The Caribbean
HBO Caribbean offers English-language broadcasts of HBO material geared towards the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean audience. HBO launched the channel to replace the Spanish foreign-language feed, which formerly served the English-speaking Caribbean market. HBO Caribbean is carried on cable providers such as Columbus Communications, Cable Bahamas and Multi-Choice TV.Latin America
originated in 1991 as a partnership between Venezuelan broadcaster Omnivisión and HBO. The channel was initially available to cable and satellite providers across Central and South America, and the Caribbean. HBO OLÉ reached a break-even profit by 1993, and had about 500,000 subscribers by 1994; that year, a secondary channel was launched, along with a Portuguese feed for Brazil. Sony, The Walt Disney Company and Universal Pictures later joined the partnership. Omnivisión eventually sold its share in the channel to Time Warner.Asia
Southeast Asia
was originally co-owned by UIP Pay TV, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner and SingTel. Based in Singapore, it launched in 1993 and initially served only the Philippines and Thailand. HBO Asia expanded to incorporate feeds in Mandarin Chinese, Thai and Bahasa, encompassing 23 countries across Asia.Malaysia
is a Malay version of HBO Asia it is featuring local & international movie and come Malay and English subtitles.India
HBO South Asia is a cable network that airs Hollywood feature films, while Disney+ Hotstar is the Indian over-the-top subscription service owned by Star India that carries HBO Original programming.Middle East and North Africa
After signing a deal with HBO, on 1 February 2016 U.A.E.-based subscription television provider OSN launched OSN First HD - Home of HBO, a premium channel that specifically airs HBO productions including movies, serials and others. Since OSN's services are pan-regional, the channel is available to multiple countries in the MENA region.Europe
United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy and Ireland
Under a long-term agreement until 2024 between HBO and Sky plc, Sky operates Sky Atlantic which broadcasts the majority of HBO's programming. Sky Atlantic is available in the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland and Italy.In February 2011, Sky Atlantic launched on the Sky platforms in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which maintains a distribution deal with HBO to offer the majority of its programming on the channel. Under the five-year agreement between HBO and Sky, newer HBO programs will air on Sky Atlantic before airing on other television channels within the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Prior to 2011, TG4 in Ireland had a long-term agreement to broadcast HBO programming free-to-air, this ceased following the creation of Sky Atlantic.
Netherlands
On 9 February 2012, HBO Netherlands launched on cable television provider Ziggo as part of a three-channel service with original programs from HBO broadcasting on a one-day delay from the United States. HBO GO was also made available to subscribers of the service. HBO Netherlands was available to subscribers of Ziggo, KPN, UPC, XS4ALL, Telfort, fibre providers Glashart Media and Vodafone Glasvezel and satellite broadcaster CanalDigitaal.On 28 September 2016, HBO Netherlands announced that it would cease broadcasting on 31 December 2016. Cable company Ziggo has acquired the broadcasting licenses of HBO content for the Dutch market. HBO programs are available on the Video on demand service Ziggo Movies & Series XL.
France
On November 13, 2008, Orange launched OCS, a five channel package, dedicated to movie and series. Under a long-term agreement between HBO and OCS, the channel OCS City Generation HBO was launched, to distribute the majority of HBO programs in France.Greece and Cyprus
has a long-term agreement with HBO to broadcast the majority of HBO programs in Greece and Cyprus. In 2015, Nova Cinema announced a new output deal with HBO to broadcast the biggest hit series in Greece and Cyprus at the same time with the US. The fifth season of Game of Thrones premiered on 12 April 2015 on HBO and Nova Cinema at the same time.Malta and Gozo
Maltese cable television network Melita More shows several HBO programs in Malta and Gozo since 2011.Eastern Europe
was originally launched in Hungary in 1991 on KábelKom, a company that was created in 1991 as a joint venture between HBO parent Time Warner and United Communications International to provide cable television service to Hungary. The channel's programming was originally transmitted via microwave relay, due to the economic issues in using satellite delivery to a country with a small population. By late 1994, HBO Hungary had a subscriber base of 160,000 households. Since that point, HBO has expanded into 15 European markets including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia.Spain
In 2016, HBO launched a standalone streaming service called HBO España, which is the Spanish equivalent of HBO Now and HBO Nordic.Portugal
From September 2015 to December 2018, local premium television channel TVCine e Séries showed the majority of HBO programs in Portugal.As a streaming service HBO Portugal was launched in 2019. In 2019, Game of Thrones and Chernobyl were the most viewed on HBO Portugal according to a platform release.