HBO Asia


HBO Asia is the Southeast Asian division of HBO. It was originally launched on 1 May 1992 as MovieVision, later rebranded on 1 April 1995 to its current name after being purchased by Home Box Office, Inc. The Singapore-based broadcast network offers channels and services with no advertisements– HBO, HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Hits, Cinemax and Red – as well as HBO Go and HBO on Demand. HBO Asia is also the exclusive distributor of BabyFirst in Asia.

Programming

HBO Asia has first run deals with three major Hollywood conglomerates: Warner Bros., Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures, and licensing deals with four major Hollywood conglomerates Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros, in addition to its proprietary HBO Original programmes. It also licences content from DC Enterainment, The Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, MGM Studios, Lionsgate, Relativity Media, Millennium Films, Castle Rock Entertainment, CBS, Europacorp, FilmNation Entertainment, Focus Features, IM Global, Morgan Creek, New Line, Paramount Classics, Screen Gems, Sony Picture Classics, Village Roadshow, and Warner Independent Pictures.

Other channels

HBO South Asia

HBO airs a separate feed with commercial breaks for viewers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives. The channel is labelled as HBO South Asia. All movie promos in this beam are according to IST.
Before the launch of HBO South Asia, HBO tried replicating the premium model in India. But then HBO decided it wasn't commercially viable so the South Asia channel was launched in India and also in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Maldives. Bangladesh did get HBO Asia before the launch of the South Asia channel, but then the feed was changed.
HBO Asia and Eros International launched HBO Defined and HBO Hits across India on 21 February 2013 on Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV. These channels are commercial-free. The content of both the channels include movies as well as most of HBO Original Programming. When the channels launched, the main HBO channel stopped airing original series.
In 2015, HBO had decided to exit the Indian market and license the channel to Turner International India. The channel was rebranded with its own packaging in February 2016. HBO Defined and HBO Hits would be handled by Star India, however HBO Defined and HBO Hits SD was shut down on 31 December 2015 while HBO Hits HD was replaced by HBO HD on 4 September 2016. It only airs Hollywood movies, as Star India has the rights to HBO Original Programming which are available on Star World and Hotstar.