HBO Max and Paramount+ to merge into one streaming service

Paramount Skydance will merge Paramount+ and HBO Max, creating a service with over 200 million subscribers. Photo / Getty Images

Paramount Skydance will combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, David Ellison, the company’s CEO, said on 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 Monday. “We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space.”

The announcement comes days after Paramount Skydance agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery, HBO’s parent company, following Netflix’s decision to walk away from its own deal amid pressure – and a higher bid – from Paramount.

He added that Paramount didn’t want to make changes to the HBO brand. “Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO,” Ellison said, noting that his favourite HBO product is Game of Thrones. If Justice Department regulators allow the deal to go through, it would place recent HBO Max hits, such as The Pitt and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, alongside Paramount offerings, including South Park and Yellowstone.

“They built a phenomenal brand,” he said. “They are a leader in the space, and we just want them to continue doing more of it.”

Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison. His firm, Skydance, bought Paramount over the summer, putting CBS, Paramount Pictures and more under his control. The US$8 billion ($13.4b) deal was approved by the Trump administration following a lengthy review and several concessions.

The deal to buy Warner Bros, valued at about US$110 billion, will almost surely attract regulatory scrutiny from the Justice Department because, without divestments, it places major swathes of the film, television and news industries under one roof: Warner Bros and Paramount studios, HBO Max and Paramount+, and CBS and CNN would all have the same parent company. Ellison expressed confidence on the call that the deal wouldn’t face hurdles with regulators.

The streaming environment has already become more consolidated in recent years. Hulu, once a joint venture by several media companies, has been fully owned by Disney since 2025. While the company expects to combine Disney+ and Hulu, for now it offers streaming bundles to customers who want to subscribe to both, and another with ESPN+, too.

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