HBO Max names MBC exec to lead Turkish content acquisitions

Mia Edde

WarnerMedia has named MBC Dubai’s senior content manager Mia Edde to lead its Turkish content buying activity.

Edde, who had been with MBC since 2005, takes up the newly created role of executive director of Turkish content acquisitions on 1 August and will be based out of Dubai.

She will report to Hannes Heyelmann, EVP and head of programming for EMEA, and Tomas Yankelevich, EVP & chief content officer for Latin America.

Edde will be responsible for leading acquisitions of local language programming in Turkey for HBO Max in EMEA and Latin America, working closely with head of programming & acquisitions for EMEA Ragnhild Thorbech, and Andres Mendoza, head of acquisitions & negotiations in Latin America.

She will also work with Antony Root, EVP & head of original production in EMEA on the commissioning and production of original Turkish language content.

Edde was most recently at MBC Dubai, where she created acquisition strategies and worked closely with the writing and adaptation teams on all original scripted commissions, including producers and directors in Turkey and the MENA region.

The exec is the latest addition for HBO Max from the Middle East’s MBC Group, following Luis Duran’s move to the company as general manager of the SVOD in Lat Am earlier this year. He reports into Johannes Larcher, who left MBC-owned streamer Shahid last year to become the head of HBO Max International.

Priya Dogra, president of WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia (excl China), said Edde’s “track record of identifying and acquiring high quality Turkish local language content” would help HBO Max offer “a vibrant local programming slate.”

Edde added: “Turkish local language content has immense popularity amongst international audiences, and I am looking forward to bringing the very best of this content to HBO Max.”

Last week it emerged that WarnerMedia is likely to delay the roll-out of its streaming service HBO Max in parts of Europe, as it focuses efforts on Latin America. Discussing Edde’s appointment, Dogra said the company is “continuing to prepare for launches across Europe” later this year, but declined to specify which countries would receive the streamer first.