Turkish TV Industry Faces Major Shift: Summer Series Suspended Due to Rising Costs
Official Announcement on the Sale of BluTV to WBD
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The news that Turkey’s first local subscription video platform BluTV was acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has been on the agenda for a while. Finally, the expected announcement came today and WBD announced the acquisition of BluTV.
It was emphasised that this announcement was the result of a comprehensive 3-year partnership that started in 2021, when discovery+ started broadcasting on BluTV and Discovery Inc. became a 35 percent shareholder of BluTV. Accordingly, the business partnership, which included the option to invest more in the rapidly growing BluTV, resulted in the acquisition of the entire company.
RESULTS OF THE CARE GIVEN TO THE CONTENT LIBRARY
Since its launch in 2016, BluTV has been offering more than 10,000 hours of local and international TV series and films to its viewers, with a strong growth momentum due to the attention it pays to its original content and content library. As part of the strategic partnership, starting in 2021, BluTV subscribers can access content from WBD’s brands such as Discovery Channel, TLC, DMAX and ID through the discovery+ tab and watch Eurosport 1 and 2 live TV channels.
In February this year, WBD and BluTV strengthened their strategic partnership, bringing BluTV viewers world-renowned content such as The Last of Us, Game of Thrones, Sex and the City and Tom & Jerry through the HBO library and children’s channels Cartoon Network and Cartoonito.
‘A UNIQUE FORMULA FOR LOCAL SUCCESS’
Jamie Cooke, Managing Director of WBD CEE, MENA and Türkiye, said: “We are excited about the new era ahead. Türkiye has been an important investment area for us for more than 20 years and the acquisition of BluTV adds the country’s first local subscription video platform to our portfolio. The combination of engaging Turkish content and WBD’s broad range of top international series and programmes offers a unique formula for local success. Together, we are offering Turkish viewers the most compelling viewing experience while expanding access to Turkish content globally.”
‘WE ARE HAPPY TO BE ONE OF THE WBD BRANDS’
BluTV CEO Deniz Şaşmaz Oflaz said the following: “As BluTV, we are very happy that our strategic partnership, which started with Discovery Inc. in 2021, has resulted in us becoming one of the WBD brands today. As Türkiye’s leading local subscription video platform, we are proud that our steady rise since day one has made us part of one of the world’s largest media companies. From now on, we will blend the best local stories we have ever presented to our viewers with the world’s best foreign content to create Turkey’s strongest digital platform library and bring our most successful local stories to the world.”
