The move has prompted the India content head of HBO Max, Saugata Mukherjee, to quit within one year of joining.
“There is no clarity on what Warner Bros Discovery is planning around HBO Max in India. Earlier, the plan was to launch in 1-2 years and the content team had started working on some great projects. Now they are not even sure if they will launch a service in India,” said a senior executive with direct knowledge of the developments. “All we were told is that it will not launch till the end of 2024. In a fast-changing OTT world, two-years is a very long time.”
Mukherjee, who had joined as content head of HBO Max last year in November, is expected to go back to SonyLIV.
He remained unavailable for comment.
“Saugata has decided to leave the company. He is an incredibly talented leader, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” a company spokesperson told ET.
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When asked about the company’s plans for India, a company spokesperson replied, “The intent is to launch a combined streaming service, including in key Asia-Pacific territories in 2024.”
Earlier in June, Arjun Nohwar was appointed as GM, Warner Bros Discovery for South Asia. Prior to this, he was responsible for the launch of HBO Max in India.
The changes at the company have stemmed from Warner Bros.’ merger with Discovery Communications, after the former was spun off from AT&T.
“It’s a major miss for the Indian content creators,” said a top producer, who was developing a series for HBO Max in India. “It’s a tough industry and we were working hard for the last nine months. In our business, it’s a long time. Just because Netflix and a few other international OTTs have not been able to crack the Indian market, doesn’t mean that India is not a good country to work in. It’s been unfortunate that their strategy changes every week.”
In June, after the merger got regulatory approvals, company’s CEO and president David Zaslav put in place a slew of cost cutting measures across the globe, to save $3 billion, which has resulted in the exit of many HBO old timers globally.
Earlier this month, the company laid off around 70 workers, or 14% of its workforce, at HBO and HBO Max. The company had also shut down the CNN+ streaming service in the US within a month of the launch, which cost it around $300 million.
Globally, the company has done massive restructuring, which has resulted in a shakeup of the entertainment industry in the US. These include the cancellation of the movie, ‘Batgirl’ and several shows.
