Netflix and HBO could have been a combination for the ages, or the quality of the latter could have slowly eroded under the cost-sensitive stewardship of the former. We’ll never know.
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery finally came around on David Ellison’s package of cash, sweeteners, more cash, and more than a little bit of groveling. The David Zaslav-led company officially recognized Paramount Skydance’s latest bid as “superior” to Netflix’s offer, which it accepted in December. Netflix has removed itself from contention.
Though not a done deal — there are still quite a few regulatory hurdles to clear, locally, federally and abroad — Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery (unofficial, but yikes) now has a fairly open path to try its unified hand at Hollywood domination.
The crown jewels for the combining companies are the legacy film studios, Paramount was founded in 1912 and Warner Bros. in 1923, but each boasts a large television footprint as well. Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO is the height of prestige for the small(er) screen, and Paramount’s broadcast network CBS still has some life left — particularly with the NFL, March Madness and top golf events (not to be confused with Topgolf events, which are less meaningful) still on its schedule. Plus, Paramount+ just signed a giant UFC deal, and on the exact opposite end of the fanbase spectrum (I would hope), it is home to Paw Patrol and other key kids programming.
Beyond Taylor Sheridan’s output, which will eventually come to an end here with the mega-creator’s mega-move to NBCUniversal, Paramount+ leaves a bit to be desired in terms of original series for adults. South Park, like the platform’s replays of CBS shows, can be consumed with a traditional cable bundle. Paramount+ is a nice-to-have, not a must-have.
HBO is still not (just) TV, it’s HBO. Any company in the industry would be over the moon to be the new owner of Industry, though that one is ending soon, and the expanding Game of Thrones universe. Euphoria and Hacks are also on the way out, but no brand has dealt with reinvention as well as HBO. The lower-brow fare on HBO Max is hit and miss, but if Grey’s Anatomy has taught us anything it is that The Pitt may still be churning out new seasons a full generation from now.
In November, I asked HBO and HBO Max head of content Casey Bloys if he had concerns for the HBO brand — and the staff — under Paramount.
“I had a town hall a couple weeks ago, and I said, ‘The only thing you can do in this process, and the best thing you can do, is just focus on your job, which is making the most impactful programming in whatever genre,’” Bloys told THR. “It’s kind of a waste of energy, because I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Well, we do now.
“Now, that being said, I’m obviously very proud of what we’ve done at HBO and HBO Max. I would like to see that continue,” Bloys continued. “We’ve all worked at HBO for a long time. I’m proud of our track record, but you have to go into these processes with an open mind. And a lot of it is out of our hands.”
Folding HBO and HBO Max into Paramount+ would be as dumb as dropping the “HBO” from “HBO Max,” and no one would ever do tha— oh, right.
Casey Bloys
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Netflix would have loved to finally topple and take over its biggest rival — the one Netflix famously needed to become before HBO became Netflix. But Netflix had no interest in the Discovery piece of Warner Bros. Discovery. It planned to let WBD split itself in two, take the Warner Bros. part (HBO, streaming and studios) and leave the Discovery piece (the global linear networks and Discovery+). The split and spin is now officially dead, a corporate spokesperson confirmed for The Hollywood Reporter.
Paramount wanted the whole damn thing; they are very different businesses. Discovery cable channels and Paramount’s “Viacom” networks as they are still colloquially called are actually pretty compatible, though that doesn’t mean you’d necessarily want any of them (let alone all of them) as distribution platforms — at least not for much longer. (Top cable channels still bring in free cash flow, and combining the bundles buys a few more years of leverage in carriage disputes.)
Discovery’s and Paramount’s respective lean-back programming pairs well for an ad-supported streaming service, like the popular entry levels of Paramount+ and Discovery+, and even better for Paramount’s Pluto TV FAST service. A person with knowledge of the internal plans for Pluto not long ago told THR that the service had been on the sales block for years — though it has experienced recent struggles, an injection of HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel and TLC programming could be the revival Pluto needs. Chow down on endless House Hunters aside an all-you-can-stream buffet of Ridiculousness.
Though they’ve done everything possible to kill it, Showtime is still a thing under the Paramount umbrella. HBO and Showtime used to compete as the top two premium-cable offerings, but those days are long, long gone. Instead of trying to revive a rivalry in-house, the acquisition feels like the right opportunity to finally, fully put Showtime to bed and simply inject its programming into the HBO and HBO Max libraries. And if you want to wait until Yellowjackets buzzes off and Dexter: Resurrection buries itself, so be it.
CNN and CBS News is a scary combination. CBS News is in the middle of a retread that is not exactly instilling confidence in the journalism community right now. Just about the only thing CNN has left is a reputation (that yes, leans left — the direction Bari Weiss has CBS News moving away from). But the TV news implications here are a story for another story; read that one here.
Under the terms of its proposal, Paramount Skydance will also end up with WBD’s Turner entertainment channels: TNT, TBS, truTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang. (Insert HLN either here or with CNN, dealer’s choice.) Of that batch, really only Adult Swim has originals. The Discovery networks — Food, HGTV, Magnolia, TLC, ID, OWN and Discovery Channel itself — have more robust pipelines.
Turner recently lost the NBA, which sucks and contributed about half the 9 percent ad sales drop in the final quarter of 2025. It has All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which could have gone out on its back if HBO Max were under Netflix, the home to WWE Raw and the international destination for the wrestling leader’s premium live events (ESPN has the PLEs here). In lieu of the NBA, TNT Sports has packed its airwaves with new deals for NASCAR, the French Open, Big 12 football and men’s basketball, Big East men’s basketball and about half the College Football Playoffs. A combination of TNT and CBS brings all of March Madness to one home court.
Paramount Pictures and TCM (Turner Classic Movies) are a match made in Movie Heaven, not unlike the pairing with Warner Bros. first as part of WarnerMedia (under AT&T, which was decidedly a match made in the other place).
The TV studios are, well, studios — and studios are the driving force in Hollywood. To cover the $110 billion price tag here, PSWBD is going to have to license out a hell of a lot of programming — ironically, the biggest buyer will probably be Netflix, which gets $2.8 billion from Warner Bros. (by way of Paramount) for losing out on its deal.
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