Following last week's Netflix dropout twist that left Paramount Skydance poised to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, we now know more about what the future holds for streaming services Paramount Plus and HBO Max. The plan is for the streamers to merge into one, Paramount CEO David Ellison said on Monday during a call with investors.
"As we said, we do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers," Ellison said on the call. "We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space."
Ellison continued: "At Paramount, by the middle of this year, we'll have completed the consolidation of our three services under one unified stack." He explained the company's approach in the months ahead and stated, "We think the combined offering and given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side really will put us in the position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC."
Last week, Paramount Skydance won the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix backed out. Paramount is acquiring the entertainment company in a $110 billion deal that will combine its streaming operations and catalogs. The media merger is still subject to regulatory approval.
The mashup of Paramount Plus and HBO Max into one streaming platform would seemingly place HBO Max offerings such as The Pitt, Euphoria, and House of the Dragon alongside Paramount Plus offerings like Landman, Survivor and South Park.