HBO Max and Paramount+ are to become a single streaming service under the leadership of Skydance – the merged company formed after Paramount acquired Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion. This is reported by The Verge.
No information is yet available on the merger's timing or the new service's name, but HBO CEO Casey Bloys will oversee it. David Ellison, the current head of Skydance, previously said the merger would give the company more than 200 million subscribers.
This move will help the company compete with Netflix, which had 325 million subscribers as of January, and bring together popular series such as 'Mobland', 'Yellowstone', 'The White Lotus', 'House of the Dragon', and others into a single catalog.
The merger took around a year. After Paramount and Skydance merged for $8 billion, the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery began. As a result, the company beat Netflix, which had also been vying for the assets.
The deal met resistance from some Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters, who feared job losses and fewer choices for viewers. The attorneys general of 12 US states also opposed it, arguing the merger would weaken competition. In September, the parties reached an agreement allowing the acquisition to proceed.
Source: https://mezha.ua/en/news/hbo-max-and-paramount-to-merge-315914/
