Skydance Signals It Will Keep HBO Max and Paramount+ as Separate Brands

The merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery company looks increasingly likely to bundle HBO Max and Paramount+ rather than fold them into a single service. Deadline reported that a video released by Paramount CEO David Ellison to announce the new company name, Skydance, ended with a slide showing the new moniker surrounded by the brands the combined business considers its most valuable.

That lineup included Paramount, Warner Bros., DC, CBS, CNN, Nickelodeon, and both HBO Max and Paramount+, according to Deadline. Because Paramount was already represented on the slide, Deadline noted that singling out Paramount+ as well — and choosing HBO Max over the legacy HBO brand — read as a deliberate choice rather than an accident.

No official decision has been announced. Paramount, which will take the Skydance name on Oct. 6 when the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition closes, has not confirmed how the two platforms will be combined into a streaming operation expected to be overseen by Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content.

Asked yesterday whether the services would be bundled or fully integrated, Bloys pointed to the HBO Max-Disney bundle as a precedent. "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," he said, adding, "So, could you see something like that happening? That would make a lot of sense."

The two streamers are widely seen as complementary in their programming lineups, which would make a combined offering simpler to market than a full merger of the platforms. The brand slide's inclusion of both logos adds to the indications that Skydance intends to keep both names in front of subscribers.

The company's next steps on streaming structure remain unconfirmed, with the Oct. 6 close of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal marking the point at which Skydance formally takes over the combined assets.