After last week's bombshell news that Warner Bros. Discovery has accepted Paramount's merger offer, Paramount CEO David Ellison shared in an investor call that plans are underway to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into a single streaming platform, as reported by Variety.
“As we said, we do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct to consumer subscribers,” explained Ellison. "We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space." For the sake of comparison, Netflix has around 300-325 million global subscribers as of early 2026.
He continued, "And we think the combined offering, and given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC."
The news follows Netflix’s decision not to increase its original $82 billion bid after Paramount struck a $110 billion deal. In an official statement, Netflix's Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters explained, “At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive.” That said, it's expected that the merger could face some regulatory hurdles.
What this means for HBO Max and Paramount+
Those worried that the HBO brand will lose its way following the merger can breathe a sigh of relief, as Paramount promises that HBO will “operate with independence.”
Ellison said that HBO will continue under the existing leadership of Casey Bloys, so that the brand can "do what it does incredibly well."
"Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO. They built a phenomenal brand. They are a leader in the space, and we just want them to continue doing more of it," said Ellison, who noted that "by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience than we can do standalone."
That said, it's not yet clear whether HBO will appear as its own dedicated tile within the all-in-one platform, like Hulu or ESPN on Disney Plus, or whether it will be fully integrated.
As for Paramount, Ellison explained that consolidation of its three existing services — Paramount+, Pluto TV and Showtime — will be completed by the middle of 2026, and we can expect a "similar approach" with HBO Max's integration.
When is it coming and how much will it cost?
Right now, there’s no set date for the launch of the new all-in-one streaming service, but since Paramount’s own service consolidation isn’t expected until the middle of this year, it’s likely HBO’s integration will take even longer. Our best bet is sometime around late 2026 or early 2027.
Pricing wasn’t brought up during the investor call, but with content expected to double, a noticeable price increase seems likely. Hopefully, it turns out to be less than the current combined cost of HBO Max and Paramount+.
