Well, there are a lot of questions still to be answered about the fate of multiple divisions at Warner Bros. Discovery when Paramount Skydance takes over the company (barring the deal closes, as they still have to hurdle multiple regulatory boards). One thing that is being telegraphed is that HBO Max (WBD’s jewel of the TV side of things) will be combined into one single streaming service with Paramount+ (the streamer that Taylor Sheridan built).
That tidbit, coming directly from Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, was shared by outlets like Variety, adding that the company hopes HBO will continue to “operate with independence.” What exactly that looks like remains to be seen, as there are chances that Paramount Skydance may look to HBO Max to develop their various IPs for the small screen.
“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 during an investor call on Monday. “We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space at Paramount. By the middle of this year, we’ll have completed the consolidation of our three services under one unified stack, and you can see us taking a similar approach to this platform going forward. And 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 a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC.”
Things on the horizon include another two seasons of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” as there are multiple other “Game of Thrones” spinoffs in the works (we’ll see how far “House of the Dragon” goes), including an animated project and a feature film. With “Yellowstone” ending and creator Sheridan moving on with a new development deal with NBCUniversal, Paramount+ is going to need the influx of high-profile TV projects that HBO Max can contribute.
What might be a tad worrisome is Paramount Skydance scrapping or selling off other parts of Warner Bros. Discovery that could be seen as redundant or overlapping. I think many would be curious to see what happens with AdultSwim and Cartoon Network, alongside other traditional TV divisions.
We don’t see them getting rid of things like CNN, when it looks like that was a strong reason for the acuqistion, as the Ellison Family (notable billionaire Trump donors) looks to control multiple American news outlets and coverage narratives concerning the Trump administration. Mirroring what they’re already doing with CBS News and Bari Weiss (leading to all sorts of veteran journalists and producers pushed out over ethical issues with new leadership).
Stay tuned for further details of this merger as they come to us.
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