{"id":325287,"date":"2026-03-02T17:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/325287\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:37:08","slug":"hbo-max-and-paramount-will-become-one-streamer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/325287\/","title":{"rendered":"HBO Max and Paramount+ Will Become One Streamer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGet ready to update your Paramount+<\/a> parental controls.<\/p>\n

\n\tHBO Max<\/a> and Paramount+ will combine into one direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service if and when Paramount Skydance\u2019s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is complete. There are still quite a number of regulatory hurdles standing in the way.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct to consumer subscribers,\u201d Paramount CEO David Ellison said during a Monday investor call<\/a> outlining his broader business plan. \u201cWe think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy mid-2026, Paramount will have consolidated Paramount+, FAST platform Pluto TV, and BET+ \u201cunder one unified stack,\u201d he said, \u201cand you can see us taking a similar approach to [HBO Max] going forward. We think the combined offering, given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn other words, Netflix, we\u2019re coming for you. The overwhelming scale of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video is among the key reasons Ellison fought so hard to bring HBO Max and Discovery+ in house.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is this bit of good news for prestige-TV junkies: the HBO brand will continue to \u201coperate with independence,\u201d Ellison promised.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a good call.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCasey[Bloys] and his team do absolutely a remarkable job at HBO,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cWe do plan for that to be able to operate with independence, so that HBO can, candidly, do what it does incredibly well. Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO. They built a phenomenal brand. They are a leader in the space, and we just want them to continue doing more of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPreach. Ellison\u2019s personal fave HBO IP is Game of Thrones, which just feels so appropriate given the past year of his moguling.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDavid Ellison has been angling for Hollywood\u2019s Iron Throne, a plot right out of his favorite HBO series\u2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHelen Sloan\/HBO<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was not a foregone conclusion that HBO Max and Paramount+ would merge into one, even after it became a foregone conclusion that Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would. There are pros and cons to the planned consolidation and to the alternative path with continued separation, as I outlined here on Friday.<\/a> But Ellison seems quite confident in his plan.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn November, I asked Bloys<\/a> if he was nervous about the future of HBO \u2014 and his job security \u2014 under the potential (at the time) Paramount takeover. Back then, Netflix wasn\u2019t even (publicly) in the game.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had a town hall a couple weeks ago, and I said, \u2018The only thing you can do in this process, and the best thing you can do, is just focus on your job, which is making the most impactful programming in whatever genre,\u2019\u201d Bloys replied. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a waste of energy, because I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow, that being said, I\u2019m obviously very proud of what we\u2019ve done at HBO and HBO Max. I would like to see that continue,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve all worked at HBO for a long time. I\u2019m proud of our track record, but you have to go into these processes with an open mind. And a lot of it is out of our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is now entirely out of Netflix\u2019s hands, as Warner Bros. broke off that agreed-upon acquisition for the sweetened (and, like, sixth) Paramount offer. The $2.8 billion break fee Netflix has already pocketed<\/a> ought to cushion that blow a bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get ready to update your Paramount+ parental controls. HBO Max and Paramount+ will combine into one direct-to-consumer (DTC)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,3286,61,60,3282,282],"class_list":["post-325287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo-max","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-paramount","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}