News

Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd) will launch its streaming service HBO Max in a dozen countries, mostly in Europe and some in Asia, in July to bring the streamer to a total of around 90 territories and further accelerate its global growth strategy, “as the platform approaches availability in 100 markets.”

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the new markets are the Baltic countries, namely Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Albania, Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, and Tajikistan.

The news, coming a day after Wbd unveiled that it would split next year into a studios and streaming company and a global networks business, follows the April 15 launch of the Wbd streamer in Turkey where BluTV, which the conglomerate acquired at the end of 2023, evolved into a service with a broader content slate. Earlier in the year, the streamer had become available in Australia.

Additional launches are planned in 2025 and into 2026, Wbd said,...

Exclusive: Lena Góra has joined the cast of the four-hour TNT miniseries Debriefing The President as the co-lead opposite Joel Kinnaman. She has taken on the role of Polly Stevens, the female lead on the project currently shooting in Cairo, sources tell Deadline.

Polly is a colleague of Kinnaman’s real-life CIA analyst John Nixon, whose book of the same name inspired the series. Rhona Mitra was originally attached to play Polly, but has since departed the series for unknown reasons.

Debriefing the President is a limited series that tells the story of CIA analyst John Nixon (Kinnaman), who became the first American to positively identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The series delves into Nixon’s personal journey as he grapples with the complexities of his mission (2003-2006). Through his interactions with Saddam, Nixon gains a deeper understanding of the Iraqi dictator, the potential consequences of the invasion,...

Warner Bros Discovery will not be selling its Polish network Tvn.

Following a strategic review, Wbd management has decided to keep the broadcaster in its ranks, according to a note sent today to staff from Kasia Kieli, Head of Wbd Poland and CEO at Tvn, and Gerhard Zeiler, President of International at Wbd.

“That review has been completed, and Wbd has concluded that the best path forward is retaining ownership of Tvn, continuing to support our business, our strategy and the incredible journalistic work of our team,” the note read.

Tvn, which is very profitable, is the single largest business within Wbd’s international business and a leading Polish network. Along with its flagship channel and news networks TVN24 and TVN24BiS, the Tvn Group makes the likes of breakout Max original The Eastern Gate, which we revealed last month is returning for a second season.

That meant it could have...

Exclusive: The Eastern Gate will open again on Max.

The Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd) streamer has ordered a second season of the drama, which stars Lena Góra and Karol Pocheć, with a script already in development.

The news came during a wide-ranging interview with Dorota Eberhardt, VP Programming at Wbd in Poland, during which she discussed content spend for 2025 that we understand is in the eight figure range, addressed local competition and talked about the impact of shows such as Netflix’s Adolescence.

The Eastern Gate‘s recommission should come as no surprise, given its outsized impact for Wbd streamer Max, where it has set several records.

Tapping into concerns around the precarious political environment in Europe, the series is billed as “a modern espionage game amid brewing international conflict and rising tensions.” It is set in the spring of 2021 and follows the story of Polish spy Ewa Oginiec (Góra...

Great television can be a source of escapism, a way to put the worries of real life in your rearview mirror and to relax. It can, however, also open up a window into topics and issues in the contemporary world that make more sense once you watch them on a screen. The Eastern Gate(or The Easterngate)falls squarely in the latter camp, giving us a glimpse into the volatile and fast-moving world of global espionage and hybrid warfare.