HBO Max, Paramount+ will be merged into one streaming service after the Hollywood merger
HBO Max and Paramount+ will be combined into a single streaming platform if Paramount Skydance’s purchase of Warner Bros. goes through. Discovery is receiving regulatory approval, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison said during a Monday call with investors.
The combined broadcaster – which will combine the country’s fourth and fifth largest services – will boast about 200 million subscribers according to current membership figures, Ellison added.
That would put the new service on par with Amazon Prime, which is currently the second largest with nearly 200 million subscribers, and below Netflix’s dominant figure of 325 million.
David Ellison and his pop-billionaire pops Larry Ellison last week reached an agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 a share after Netflix failed to raise its offer and withdrew from a brutal months-long bidding war.
The new conglomerate will release 30 films each year with a special 45-day theatrical release window, David Ellison said, adding that the company will have about $79 billion in debt and aims to cut costs by $6 billion — all without confirming layoffs are on the way.
The deal – which would create a massive media empire including HBO, CNN, CBS and thousands of movie titles – still needs approval from the US Justice Department and European regulators.
Ellison did not share details on how much the new streaming service would cost consumers.
Paramount did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Media experts expected Paramount Skydance to copy Disney’s approach, offering its streaming services as deals or à la carte, in an attempt to increase its market share – a flexible approach that could reduce regulatory scrutiny of the deal.
“I was surprised because I thought they were going to keep the two things separate,” Derek Reisfield, former CBS News and McKinsey founder of MarketWatch, told The Post.
“I think the move here is, ‘We’re going to have a better, broader service, so we’re going to be able to attract more subscribers, and eventually we’re going to be able to raise prices,’ but I don’t think they’re going to raise prices dramatically.”
Even the total number of subscribers of the combined platform is not a threat to streaming competitors such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney, which owns Hulu, so it will not face antitrust problems, said Reisfield.
Ellison said the deal will not disrupt HBO’s history of high-quality shows and movies.
“HBO should always be HBO,” the executive told investors.
HBO — currently owned by WBD — is likely to be a small brand within the new, larger streaming service, a source familiar with Paramount’s plans told CNBC.
The executives also gave a nod to a wide range of sports offerings in the proposed combined service, which will combine TNT Sports and CBS Sports – including rights to NCAA March Madness, NFL, MLB, NHL, Nascar and college football games, as well as tennis tournaments.
The company said it has not heard anything from regulators to suggest that its sports rights will face any antitrust issues.
“It helps to have that many channels or stores when you’re bidding on sports packages, it makes it a more competitive bidder,” Reisfield told The Post. “That obviously helps them to play well in the markets.”
Paramount Skydance may also be able to advertise its sports broadcasts on CBS and TNT, he said.
Ellison’s proposed merger would be the latest change for HBO’s streaming service, which began in 2010 as HBO Go.
The company launched HBO Now four years later to give customers a way to access HBO programming without a cable bundle for the first time.
In 2020, two years after AT&T bought Time Warner and renamed it WarnerMedia, the company launched HBO Max – briefly renamed Max, a decision that was reversed last year.
