HBO Max and Paramount+ to merge into one service

David Ellison confirms that ultimately, the two platforms will be brought together. But initially, HBO Max and Paramount+ will remain separate, with bundled offers.

After the studios, the platforms.

Hours after the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. was finalized. Discovery, David Ellison, the boss of Skydance, confirmed that HBO Max and Paramount + were intended to become one and the same service. But not right away.

“The long-term plan is basically to bring them together,” Ellison said at a conference on the Paramount lot to celebrate the merger’s completion.

“This will take some time. So in the immediate future you will see the two services operating separately, including bundles or other arrangements that can be accelerated in the relatively short term.”

In other words, subscribers should not see HBO Max or Paramount+ disappear overnight. The first stage will rather be that of the bundle, with the two platforms offered together, before a possible complete integration.

The technical part is already well underway. Paramount managed to bring together the technological infrastructures of Paramount+, BET+ and Pluto TV, without subscribers realizing it. Ellison attributes this acceleration in particular to advances in artificial intelligence and the technologies used by the platforms.

The boss of Skydance now wants to centralize technical infrastructures “as quickly as possible”. He recalls that the merger of Paramount’s technologies had already been achieved “in record time” after the arrival of Skydance at the head of the group in August 2025. According to information from Deadline, the consolidation of the various infrastructures could be completed within a year.

However, the commercial strategy remains to be defined. Ellison has not yet specified how pricing, different subscription levels or the transition of subscribers to this future single service would work.

Together, HBO Max and Paramount+ claim more than 200 million subscribers worldwide. Which would make it the second player in the market behind Netflix and its 330 million subscribers and ahead of Disney Plus with 130 million subscribers (190 million including Hulu).