Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially became one company Tuesday, closing a $110 billion merger that puts CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount+, HBO Max, Comedy Central, MTV and two of Hollywood’s oldest movie studios under one owner. The new company is called Skydance, and it’s run by David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
If you pay for streaming, watch the news on CBS or CNN, or go to the movies, this affects you. Here’s what changes and what doesn’t, at least for now.
What does Skydance own now?
- Streaming: Paramount+, HBO Max, Pluto TV and Discovery+.
- TV networks: CBS, CNN, HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, TNT, TLC and more.
- Movie studios: Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.
- Franchises: Harry Potter, DC superheroes, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, SpongeBob and many others.
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders got about $31 a share in cash. Skydance stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday and fell in its debut, Deadline reported, amid questions about the company’s roughly $80 billion in debt.
Will HBO Max and Paramount+ merge?
Eventually, yes. Ellison has said the two services will be bundled in the “short term” and later combined into one, according to Deadline. The company hasn’t announced prices. When streaming services combine, subscribers end up with one bill, and there’s no guarantee it’ll be lower than what they pay now.
What you pay now doesn’t change today. Watch for emails from either service about bundles and price changes.
What did the company have to promise to get the deal approved?
The merger cleared regulators in 68 jurisdictions, including the Justice Department and the FCC. But 12 state attorneys general sued, and a federal judge approved a settlement that, according to TheWrap, requires Skydance to:
- Invest $1.5 billion in U.S. film and TV production over five years.
- Release at least 30 movies a year in theaters, or pay $30 million for each one it misses.
- Set up an independent editorial board overseeing CNN and CBS News.
- Keep both studio lots running for five years and negotiate cable carriage deals for the two companies’ networks separately.
The company also reached a deal with the Writers Guild that includes a five-year pause on layoffs at CBS. Ellison asked critics to “give us time” to “rebuild trust.”
The BeezLoop Take
The settlement terms are better than nothing. A theatrical-release floor with real penalties and an independent board over CNN and CBS News are concrete promises, and the states that sued deserve credit for getting them.
But look at what one family now controls: two of the country’s biggest TV news operations, two major studios and a big share of what Americans stream. When CBS and CNN answer to the same owner, an “independent editorial board” is only as strong as the owner’s willingness to leave it alone. And with $80 billion in debt, the pressure to cut costs and raise prices will be constant.
The open question is what happens after five years, when most of the settlement’s protections expire. Who’s watching then?
More media coverage on BeezLoop: The White House cut CNN from Air Force One.
Also: The White House launched a 24-hour channel about the president.
Sources: Deadline · TheWrap · Warner Bros. Discovery SEC filing · KCRA 3
