HBO Max has named acquisitions bosses for its upcoming launches within the UK and Italy, and so they’re massive title appointments.
Within the UK, long-serving ITV Head of Content material Acquisitions Sasha Breslau has been named Vice President Content material Acquisitions for HBO Max within the UK & Eire. Alessandro Volpato, who’s presently Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Senior Supervisor, Content material Acquisition, turns into Director of Acquisitions for HBO Max Italy.
Breslau will take up her function in October, reporting to Ragnhild Thorbech, SVP of Programming & Acquisitions, EMEA. Her duties will embody serving to to form WBD’s content material technique for HBO Max whereas main on acquisitions for UK and Irish audiences.
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD)’s HBO Max is because of launch within the UK and Eire in early 2026, which is able to mark a significant second for the territory. Pay-TV big Sky has been the key supplier of HBO programming for a few years, and there are nonetheless a number of questions on what occurs on the launch of the WBD streamer.
“HBO’s unparalleled collection influenced my early determination to embark on a profession in tv, so the chance to hitch HBO Max because it launches right here is irresistible,” mentioned Breslau. “I’m thrilled to be working alongside Ragnhild and her proficient staff, and I sit up for collaborating with new and established companions to construct on HBO Max’s streaming success.
Breslau, generally known as one of many UK’s prime consumers of American and worldwide fare, has greater than 20 years of expertise for the likes of ITV and Channel 4. She joined ITV in 2008 and labored her means up the ranks to turn out to be its lead acquisitions exec in 2021. She was instrumental in constructing the library for streamer ITVX, buying and licensing greater than 8,000 hours of titles equivalent to Love & Dying, The Twelve, One Tree Hill and The Originals, that are 4 of the most-watched titles on the service. She additionally acquired the Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2021, and signed multi-year offers with Disney for Household Man and American Dad.
“I’m extraordinarily grateful to my sensible, devoted colleagues and associates at ITV,” she mentioned. “Big because of them for all their assist and onerous work over many rewarding and profitable years.”
Italian Purchaser
Volpato, in the meantime, will report into Joana Silva, VP of Programming & Acquisitions, might be answerable for buying content material for HBO Max Italy, which can be due for an early 2026 launch with related ramifications for the native content material enterprise as within the UK.
He’ll lead negotiations with Italian and European studios, distributors and impartial producers, and also will work with the EMEA streaming acquisitions staff to evaluate pan-European tasks.
He was labored on offers for exhibits equivalent to Pesci Piccoli, Sconfort Zone and Sono Lillo and worldwide titles like These About to Die. His is a return to the WBD fold, having beforehand labored at Warner Bros. Worldwide as Supervisor, Worldwide TV Distribution in London and, earlier than that, as a part of the Technique staff between the UK capital and Los Angeles.
Volpato started his profession at Discovery Italia.
