The merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery under the Skydance brand was completed this Tuesday in a deal valued at around $110 billion, and the question millions of subscribers are asking is immediate: what will happen to HBO Max, Paramount+, and SkyShowtime?
The short answer is that, for now, nothing changes. Both platforms will continue to operate independently, without a unification of catalogs or modifications to the current prices.
What is certainly on the table is a discounted bundle, similar to the model that Disney uses with Disney+ and Hulu. The Skydance management considers it the first logical step before any deeper integration, although there is still no date, price, or final name for that bundle.
Casey Bloys, who has been with HBO for 22 years, will lead the entire streaming division of the new company: HBO Max, Paramount+, the HBO channel, and the free platform Pluto TV. Bloys has signed a multi-year contract extension for the position and has already shared his rationale: "HBO and Paramount+ have two of the most divergent clienteles, and they often do not overlap."
"That's what they tell me about the series of Taylor Sheridan and HBO, but people who watch HBO tend to enjoy television, and that doesn't mean just HBO."
The executive also publicly defended the idea of the combined package, noting that “it would make a lot of sense” to offer both platforms together at a discount.
Alongside Bloys, the new leadership team at Skydance includes David Ellison —son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison— as the head of strategy, technology, and creative direction, and Ynon Kreiz, former CEO of Mattel, as co-CEO responsible for daily management and integration. Kreiz officially started in the role one day before the formal completion of the merger.
The challenge is significant. According to Nielsen data from July 2026, the Paramount platforms (Paramount+ and Pluto TV) accounted for 2.2% of television viewership in the United States, while those of Warner (HBO Max and Discovery+) totaled only 1.4%.
Combined, the new giant would reach 3.6% of the market, still below Amazon Prime Video (4.2%), Disney (4.7%), Netflix (7.8%), and YouTube (14.2%). Altogether, the streaming services of the new conglomerate exceed 200 million subscribers globally.
Both studios will also continue the practice of selling series and movies to rival platforms to generate additional revenue. Titles like Reacher, Ted Lasso, Abbott Elementary, and Unfiltered Therapy are already being distributed this way.
What's going on with SkyShowtime?
The most uncertain outlook is being experienced by SkyShowtime, the joint platform operated by Paramount along with Comcast (NBCUniversal and Sky) in around twenty European countries, including Spain.
The merger of Paramount with Warner renders that alliance strategically meaningless, and according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, its co-owners are considering all options: continuity, sale, or gradual closure. A potential sale to Universal itself is even being considered.
For the moment, SkyShowtime continues to operate normally, and there is no definitive decision yet. A resolution is expected by 2027.
In Spain, HBO Max is the sixth digital platform with over four million users, according to GfK DAM data from June 2026, while SkyShowtime has a reach that is too limited to be included in local audience studies.
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