Bloys Floats Bundle as First Post-Merger Step
Casey Bloys, the streaming chief for the newly formed company resulting from the $110.8 billion equity merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, indicated this week that Paramount+ and HBO Max might be sold together as a package. At the Bloomberg Screentime Conference in Los Angeles, Bloys — presently CEO of HBO and HBO Max at Warner Bros. Discovery — called a discounted joint offering, comparable to the current Max-Disney+ arrangement, a probable initial move for both services once the deal closes on Oct. 6 and the company becomes Skydance. He called the concept sensible, though he stressed that no formal announcement has been made.[S1]
Combined, the two platforms have over 220 million paying customers worldwide. Antenna figures show roughly 7.6 million subscribers in the United States — 14% of the two services' combined base — subscribe to both. That research firm reports the Max-Disney+ bundle posted an 80% three-month retention rate, exceeding each app's standalone retention and surpassing Netflix's 74% industry benchmark. Morgan Stanley forecasts that beneath one corporate umbrella, the combined subscriber total will exceed 240 million global users by 2030, intensifying competition for Disney+ and Prime Video.[S1]
Streaming Bubble and Industry Consolidation
As competing entertainment conglomerates increasingly embrace cross-studio bundles to reduce churn and build scale, Netflix still stands as the worldwide SVOD leader, with over 325 million subscribers globally. Bloys noted that as the streaming bubble deflates, companies are paying more attention to collaborating with businesses that once followed different economic models. During the bubble era, he said, streamers approved hundreds of series without any viable path to monetization.[S1]
Bloys said the bubble had upsides during its expansion, since the sheer volume of work let people gain experience on productions, but he called the downside genuinely painful, pointing to layoffs in production. He voiced optimism that, as with any disrupted industry, mergers and new entrants will emerge, and he suggested the sector might eventually settle into greater stability and calm.[S1]
