Skydance CEO David Ellison doubled down on his plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single streaming service – sparking questions about how much the mega-streamer could cost fans.
Ellison’s $81 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed Tuesday, forming a new media behemoth called Skydance, after months of antitrust roadblocks.
In the “long term,” the company plans to “bring [HBO Max] and [Paramount+] together” as one streaming service,” the exec told reporters Tuesday on his first day running the new Hollywood giant.
“It’ll take a period of time to do that,” he added. “So I think in the immediate, you will see them operated separately,” with “bundling” options available “in the relatively short term.”
Ellison said the company expects to “accelerate how quickly we accomplish that goal,” thanks to advancements in “AI technology and other things.”
He declined to comment further on the bundle options.
The combined streamer – which would merge the country’s third- and fifth-largest services – would boast about 200 million total subscribers, according to Ellison.
By that count, an HBO Max-Paramount+ hybrid would be on par with Amazon Prime, currently the second-largest streamer with roughly 200 million subscribers, and still below Netflix’s dominant 325 million customers.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Ellison noted a combined platform will allow Skydance to “compete with the Disneys and Netflixes and Amazons and anybody in the world.”
It’s unclear how much the combined service could cost, and whether the company is planning to hike prices. It has already announced $6 billion in planned cost cuts, including layoffs, though it has not specified which divisions will be hit.
A basic HBO Max plan with ads currently costs $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year. The premium, ad-free version costs $22.99 a month or $229.99 annually.
The Paramount+ Essential plan with ads costs $8.99 a month, while the Premium plan – which is ad-free and allows customers to stream CBS live – costs $13.99 a month.
That means if the streamers’ price tags were combined, a basic plan would cost $19.98 a month and a premium subscription would cost an eye-watering $36.98 a month.
But it’s likely the company will take a similar approach to Disney+ and Hulu, at least in the short term, by offering discounted bundle options.
A standalone Hulu plan costs $12.49 a month with ads or $21.49 a month without ads, while a Disney+ plan goes for the same rates.
The popular Disney+ and Hulu bundle, however, starts at $12.99 a month and goes up to $21.99 a month – just pennies more than customers pay for the individual plans.
HBO Max is also included in a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu, but it comes at a much steeper price tag – starting at $21.99 a month with ads or $34.99 a month with no ads.
HBO Max is home to popular shows like “House of the Dragon,” “Succession” and “The White Lotus.” Paramount+ offers “Yellowstone” and its spin-off shows, along with “Landman,” “Criminal Minds” and “South Park.”
Ellison initially announced in March that the two streamers would be combined if the merger achieved regulatory approvals – but company executives have been delivering mixed messages.
Casey Bloys, who has been tapped as chief content officer of Skydance and will lead the integration of the two streamers, last week said he expects the two platforms to remain separate with bundling options – with no mention of a combined service.
“I would say that I don’t want to comment on what is going to happen or anything like that, but I would point to the HBO Max-Disney bundle, which has been very successful,” Bloys said during Bloomberg’s Screentime event. “That would make a lot of sense.”
The Post has sought comment from Skydance.