HBO Max Takes First Step Towards a ‘Potential Future’ India Launch 6v2m31 Entertainment News

Amit Malhotra is now the HBO Max MD for Southeast Asia and India. n2ym

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 4 June 2021 16:34 IST

HBO Max Takes First Step Towards a ‘Potential Future’ India Launch

Photo Credit: WarnerMedia. Composite: Akhil Arora/Gadgets 360 3691x

(inset) Amit Malhotra

Highlights

Malhotra will convert HBO Go Asia into HBO Max
He will explore ‘potential future launch’ for India
HBO Max expands this June into LatAm, Caribbean

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HBO Max has taken the first steps towards an India launch, with WarnerMedia announcing Friday that it has appointed Disney veteran executive Amit Malhotra as the managing director for HBO Max in Southeast Asia and India. Malhotra is now responsible for HBO Go that is currently available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam — HBO Go will be upgraded to HBO Max in these territories. Malhotra will also help WarnerMedia explore a “potential future launch” in India, the American giant said in its announcement.

Currently, Friends: The Reunion (that was sold to the most unlikely of candidates in Zee5). Outside of that, there are a couple of HBO Max movies on video-on-demand.

“I am delighted to be part of the incredible team at Cartoon Network are extremely popular with ionate fans and audiences across this region. With a focus on consumers our goal will be to bring all of these brands and content together in an exciting new world class streaming experience as we move into the future with HBO Max.”

Malhotra spent 17 years at Hotstar. Now, he will be doing the same thing for its rival WarnerMedia.

Johannes Larcher, international chief for HBO Max, added: “With our launch across Latin America on June 29 and our plans for Europe on the horizon, we turn our sights toward Asia, where we have an incredible opportunity to bring HBO Max to millions of new fans who are just as excited about streaming as our audiences in the U.S. Amit's experience launching streaming services in both mature and emerging markets across Southeast Asia and the surrounding region make him the ideal leader to plan and oversee the rollout of HBO Max and its expanded content offering and platform experience.”

HBO Max launched exclusively in the US last May — it has 40.6 million paid subscribers there since — and will begin its first major expansion later in June in 39 territories across Latin America and the Caribbean. Later in 2021, HBO's existing streaming services in Europe will be upgraded to HBO Max, a process that will replicate itself later in Southeast Asia. The wording for HBO Max's India launch — “exploring possible opportunities” for a “potential future launch” — suggests we might still be some way off before it arrives here.

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