Why HBO Max is launching now - despite the takeover battle for Warner

Luca Fontana

10/12/2025

Translation: machine translated

Two announcements in 48 hours: HBO Max announces its launch in Europe, shortly afterwards Netflix wants to buy the entire group. Does that fit together? Yes - and that's what makes it exciting.

When I reported on the launch of HBO Max in Switzerland, the Community was quick to speak up. Reader Pierruno asked the question that moved many:

The confusion is understandable. Warner announces a massive European expansion, only to be followed 48 hours later first by a takeover headline.s acquisition headline, then to be eclipsed by a hostile counter-offer from Paramount.

The short answer: HBO Max is coming. Absolutely. The long answer, however, is more exciting - and tells us a lot about how big takeovers work, what they can ruin and why Warner is going full throttle right now.

The deal is not a sprint - it's a marathon

Should one of the deals go through - whether with Netflix or Paramount - the respective buyers would become the most powerful content owners in modern entertainment. A takeover of this magnitude is therefore not a simple handshake, but a years-long administrative process. Even in the most favourable scenario, the deal will not be finalised until the end of 2026 or mid-2027. And the risk of it failing along the way due to antitrust hurdles is real. Because the takeover battle will not make the process any easier. On the contrary. Every new offer reopens the process and prolongs the uncertainty.

Until then, Warner Bros. Discovery will remain a completely normal company - committed to keeping its streaming business as attractive as possible. This sounds banal, but it is crucial: any loss of value could later tempt a potential buyer to renegotiate the price or, in the worst case, to pull out. Warner is under pressure anyway: the group is heavily indebted, has been struggling for years to find a clear strategy and cannot afford another misstep.

This is another reason why Warner is now pursuing this offensive strategy. Instead of cutting back, it is expanding and investing. If you want to sell yourself at a high price, you can't look like a beleaguered giant. It has to look like an asset that has momentum.

Warner must prove that HBO Max also shines on its own

Europe is an important revenue lever for streaming services. One that Warner has hardly utilised so far. Not only because HBO does not yet have a strong presence here, but also because Europe is a large premium streaming market that is simultaneously affluent, accessible, regulated and not yet fully occupied. This is at least true for many analysts and market observers, who regularly point to purchasing power, stable subscription models and a comparatively high willingness to pay https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/europe-svod-market-analysis/.

For Warner, this means that an expansion into Europe is not only a signal to Netflix or Paramount, but also a kind of strategic hedge. If no deal materialises, Warner needs a plan B - and in the best case scenario, this is its own fully developed global streaming service.

Netflix also has an interest in a strong HBO Max

When you buy an entire company, you can't just take the pretty shop window with you. In other words: If one of the bidders takes over Warner - whether Netflix, Paramount or a third player - they don't just get a bunch of content and series that can be pushed into their own app. That's not how a streaming service works. In reality, there is an incredibly complex machinery behind it that works differently in every country.

And compared to North America, Europe has a hell of a lot of countries.

Warner already has contracts with local broadcasters, partnerships with telecoms providers, ongoing shoots, committed budgets for European productions, agreements with authorities, pricing structures, teams running the service and lots of legal obligations. None of this can simply be switched off or ignored - these things continue, regardless of whether it says Netflix or Warner on it.

That's why HBO Max is not just «an app». It's a company with hundreds of individual parts that have to function properly so that it can be taken over later on. If Warner becomes active in Europe now, it will ensure that this machine is already running, delivers data and remains stable. This is important for any potential buyer: a functioning organisation is much easier to integrate than a service that only exists on paper.

Europe is Warner's back-up, no matter who buys in the end

HBO Max is therefore not launching despite the takeover battle, but because of the uncertainty that this bidding battle brings with it. A lot of time will pass before everything is signed, approved and integrated. Time in which Warner has to show that HBO Max can grow, function and, in the best case, even convince. And this is completely independent of whether Netflix, Paramount or another player ultimately wins the bid.

The principle remains the same: a strong HBO Max is a valuable HBO Max. This is precisely why the service will be coming to Switzerland on 13 January 2026. Regardless of what headlines are currently whizzing around the internet.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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