Following the success in the takeover battle for Warner Bros. Discovery has Paramount Skydance boss David Ellison outlined his plans for the streaming business of the future combined company. In an interview with investors, Ellison announced that the two currently separate streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+ to be merged into a single offering. The aim is to achieve a stronger position in competition with other major providers by bundling content and subscribers.

At the same time, Ellison emphasised that the HBO brand should be preserved and continue to have its own identity. He praised the work of HBO boss Casey Bloys and emphasised that HBO should continue to function independently, even if it becomes part of the same platform in the future.

According to Paramount, based on current subscriber figures, the combined streaming platform would attract more than 200 million direct customers worldwide which would make it one of the largest global streaming services. Concrete details on the the name, pricing or technical structure of the new platform have not yet been finalised.

The announcement was made in the context of the planned 110 billion dollar merger with Warner Bros. Discoverywhich still requires the approval of shareholders and supervisory authorities. If the merger of the two largest streaming offerings from Paramount and Warner is realised, this is likely to have a significant impact on the highly competitive streaming market.