HBO to Cut The Cord In Spain with an Internet-only Service

This is a fascinating move by HBO to start competing directly with Netflix. With HBO Now not even a year old, the company announced this week that it is planning on expanding its streaming services overseas. Outside of the US, where HBO Now is an exclusive deal, the only web-based service the channel has offered is HBO Nordic, which covers Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. At the end of last year, after the launch of HBO Now, the network began offering streaming in Colombia, with plans to expand further into Latin America.

Now, HBO is announcing that it will bring that streaming service to Spain. (It should be noted that the current U.S. ambassador to Spain, James Costos, is a former HBO exec who was instrumental in moving the Game of Thrones production to that country during filming on Season 6.) But what is far more interesting is that the Spanish streaming service won’t be offered alongside or as a supplement to the pay cable option. Instead, it will replace it, forcing those in the country who want to watch the show filmed in their own backyards to sign up for the streaming service.

According to Bloomberg, the Spanish streaming service will operate along the lines of HBO Nordic. Spain has a very high level of high-speed broadband users (about three-fourths of the population have high-speed connections). Many other streaming services are already part of the market, including Netflix, Telefonica SA, and Vodafone. The latter two are cable carriers who offer their streaming services free for the first six months. HBO is entering a crowded field here.

Piracy is also a problem. As the Bloomberg article notes, “Many people in Spain have grown accustomed to watching online videos without paying for them.” Perhaps HBO thinks it can clamp down on this issue, which is by no means limited to Spain, by controlling the means of delivery through one hub.

Spain is also apparently only the tip of the iceberg. Simon Sutton, HBO’s president of international and content distribution, said that the plan is to do this in more countries over the coming months. “Spain is not the first and Spain is not the last,” he said. Perhaps by the time we reach Game of Thrones Season 8, HBO will be pulling away from pay-cable all together.