HBO Max and Paramount+ look headed for a bundle, not a merger
HBO Max and Paramount+ are more likely to be sold together than squashed into a single app.
That steer came from Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, when he was asked how the two streamers might fit together under new ownership. He pointed to the existing HBO Max-Disney bundle as very successful, according to Deadline.
A bundle means viewers pay for both services together, often at a discount, but each app stays separate. A full integration would combine them into one service with one catalogue and one subscription.
Bloys did not go further than that. He declined to comment on how soon HBO Max and Paramount+ might merge or whether a bundle was in the immediate future, according to Variety. A separate account of his remarks put it plainly: the two are more likely to be bundled than combined, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
For fans, this means no change to how you watch yet. Keep your logins. The decision still sits with the new owners.
That ownership picture is moving fast. Paramount will take the Skydance name on Oct. 6 when the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition closes, Deadline reported. Paramount chief executive David Ellison announced the name in a video that ended with a slide showing Skydance surrounded by logos for Paramount, Warner Bros., DC, CBS, CNN, Nickelodeon, HBO Max and Paramount+.
Paramount has not officially confirmed how it will combine HBO Max and Paramount+, according to that same report. So Bloys' comments are a steer, not a final plan.
The deal machinery is already in motion. On Sept. 30, Paramount Skydance said David Ellison had named Ynon Kreiz as co-chief executive of the anticipated combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery at closing, alongside financing steps including $41.4 billion and €885 million in senior secured notes offerings. The company had earlier extended deadlines for bond exchange and tender offers announced on Sept. 21, and launched syndication of an extra Term B loan facility on Sept. 24, according to Paramount.
What makes this stand out is the restraint. With a week to go until the new Skydance era, the man who runs HBO programming is talking up bundles and leaving the timetable blank.
