WBD acquires BluTV
January 2, 2024
In a move that will further bolster its growing streaming business, with the international rollout of Max beginning in the next few months, Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has acquired BluTV, an SVoD service in Turkey.
The announcement follows three years of extensive partnership, which started in 2021 with the launch of discovery+ on BluTV and an investment by Discovery that made the company a 35 per cent shareholder of BluTV. One of the components of the partnership was the option to invest further in BluTV, which has now resulted in the acquisition of the rapidly growing SVoD service.
Since its launch in 2016, BluTV has demonstrated a strong growth trajectory thanks to its focus on original content and content library, offering over 10,000 hours of leading local and international series and movies. As part of the strategic partnership, discovery+ was made available on BluTV in 2021, giving subscribers access to content from WBD’s iconic brands such as Discovery Channel, TLC, DMAX and ID in a dedicated discovery+ branded area. In addition, viewers can also watch live sports on Eurosport 1 and 2.
In February 2023 the parties deepened their partnership by adding HBO content and the kids channels Cartoon Network and Cartoonito to BluTV, offering their members an even wider variety of global content and hit series such as The Last of Us, Game of Thrones, Sex and the City and Tom & Jerry.
“We are very excited for this new chapter,” declared Jamie Cooke, GM CEE, Middle East & Turkey of Warner Bros Discovery. “Turkey has been an important investment territory for us for over 20 years and the acquisition of BluTV brings Turkey’s first local SVoD player into our portfolio. The combination of compelling Turkish content and a broad range of the best international series and shows from Warner Bros Discovery is an unbeatable recipe to be locally relevant and successful. Together we bring Turkish audiences the most compelling viewing experience and expand the reach of Turkish content globally.”
“As BluTV, we are very happy that our strategic partnership with Discovery Inc, which started in 2021, has resulted in us becoming one of the Warner Bros Discovery brands today,” added Deniz Şaşmaz Oflaz, CEO of BluTV. “As Turkey’s leading local subscription video platform, we are proud that our steady growth since day one has made us a part of one of the largest media companies in the world. From now on, we will blend the best local stories we have ever presented to our viewers with the world’s best global content to curate Turkey’s strongest streaming platform and bring our most successful local stories to the world.”