In a startling development confirmed yesterday as really happening, HBO is shuttering its channel services in the Netherlands as of January 1st, 2017. Rumors of this were circulating on Game of Thrones forums prior to the announcement, but Variety confirmed it. HBO is pulling their services out of the country.
Currently, what is known as “HBO Netherlands” provides programming services from channels HBO1, HBO2, HBO3, plus HBO On Demand and HBO GO. These will cease to exist as of December 31st. This is not an HBO solo project, but one in which they partner with Ziggo, which is the leading Dutch cable TV platform.
The plan, from what Variety suggests, is that HBO and Ziggo are going to start over with a new, reconfigured “joint venture.” They quote a spokesperson as saying:
“After careful consideration, the joint venture partners have determined that discontinuing the service is the best business decision and that we believe our customers will be better served by a different service that will feature HBO content, including full library.”
For the record, this “new joint venture” will mark HBO’s third run at the Netherlands as a market. HBO Netherlands only launched in 2012, and was their second attempt after their original line up, known as HBO Nordic, failed. “Efforts of HBO Go to face off with Netflix in Scandinavia have been “very disappointing,” said Francois Godard, at Enders Analysis.”
Of course, our first concern is how will this affect Game of Thrones? After all two of the major players who still are in the game are from the Netherlands, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister and Carice van Houten, who plays Melisandre. Not to worry fans, everyone is quick to note that Game of Thrones will continue to be available.
Ziggo is quoted by media outlets as calling the move a “business decision,” going on to say that it will continue to offer HBO shows – such as “Game of Thrones,” “Silicon Valley” and “The Night Of” – in exclusivity to its cable clients.
At least they have a some time before Season 7 arrives to figure out which channel will carry it, so everyone can reprogram their DVRs. Game of Thrones returns to airwaves everywhere (including the Netherlands) in July of 2017.
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/09/30/hbo-axing-its-channels-in-the-netherlands-shell/
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