Amid the ongoing buzz surrounding its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount has taken a surprise decision for HBO Max.
On Monday, March 2, Variety reported that the American film production and distribution company has decided to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service.
However, in a statement released by Paramount CEO David Ellison, this major step can only be taken if the regulators approve Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,
He also noted that the company wants HBO "to operate with independence."
In his statement, Ellison shared, "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."
"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," he continued.
The CEO went on to add, "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.”
This decision comes after Netflix backed out from the competition to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, resulting in Paramount to secure the deal.
