Larry and David Ellison of Paramount Skydance are poised to control a behemoth media empire if their winning bid for Warner Bros. Discovery gains regulatory approval – adding HBO, CNN and thousands of movie titles to Paramount, CBS and the film rights they already own.
The deal would put HBO Max, its nearly 130 million subscribers and shows like “The Pitt” and “Heated Rivalry” under the same roof as Paramount+, which has 79 million customers and the “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek” franchises, alongside recent hits like “1923” and “Landman.”
Streaming
It’s unclear if the Ellisons intend to fold HBO Max, the country’s fourth-largest streamer, and Paramount+, the fifth, into a single platform — a move like what Netflix had signaled it might pursue, arguing that it would offer customers more bang for the buck.
Another option would be to mimic Disney’s model, which lets customers sign up for Disney+ and Hulu in bundles or à la carte – a more flexible approach that could potentially ease regulatory scrutiny on the Paramount-WBD deal.
“My guess is that they will keep them separate, and that they would create package deals for consumers because what you’re gonna want is a primary buy and then to lock up the secondary buy from consumers,” Derek Reisfield, a former media executive at CBS News and McKinsey, and co-founder of MarketWatch, told The Post.
It’s unlikely that the streamers will hike prices, since it’s “more about getting market share in consumers’ wallets and making life difficult for other streamers,” he added.
Paramount+ is weaker overseas, so it will likely advertise bundles to HBO Max subscribers in other foreign markets like Poland for a few extra dollars, Reisfield said.
Larger subscription numbers will make it easier for the new tie-up to win over advertisers and invest more in content, he explained.
Paramount did not immediately respond to The Post’s inquiries.
News
Perhaps the most controversial part of the deal would be the addition of CNN and its more than 3,000 employees — including star anchors like Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper — to the Paramount Skydance fold.
CNN reporters and producers alike are fearful that the deal could threaten their newsroom’s independence since the Ellisons – who are close Trump allies – put Bari Weiss in charge of bringing more conservative voices to CBS News last year after they bought Paramount, according to reports.
Paramount and WBD staffers are bracing themselves for “bloodbath” layoffs, with a Paramount employee saying there were wordless screams at the company’s Los Angeles office after news broke of the bidding war outcome – and many are hoping for a round of voluntary buyouts before things get ugly, according to Page Six.
Movies and studios
Under the deal, the Ellisons’ new studio and film catalog would rival media superpowers like Disney — combining WBD’s “Harry Potter,” “Batman,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone With the Wind” with Paramount Pictures’ Hollywood classics like “The Godfather” and “Chinatown.”
Paramount – which already owns a 65-acre Hollywood lot – would also gain more than 30 soundstages at Warner Bros’ 110-acre lot in Burbank, Calif.
“We’re losing a studio. We just are. This is probably the roughest part of the thing for the Hollywood community, and it was less of a thing for Netflix because Netflix isn’t a film studio,” Seth Schachner, managing director of Strat Americas, a Los Angeles-based media consulting firm, told The Post.
“When you lose a major buyer of talent, whether you’re a producer, you’re a director, a writer, all the folks that work for production…that’s a very rough and tough thing, and that could translate to quality.”
However, consumers likely won’t notice any changes in theatrical film releases in the short term, he added.
Cable TV
Under the Warner Bros. deal, the Ellisons would get HBO classics like “Game of Thrones,” “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and “Veep,” too.
The new media empire would combine a huge suite of cable channels — Paramount’s MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET; and WBD’s Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, TBS and TNT.
Sports
The Ellisons already own the CBS network’s sports rights to NFL games, the NCAA March Madness and the Masters golf tournament, as well as prime-time hits like “Survivor” and “Matlock.”
It will be gaining TNT’s sports rights to MLB, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA March Madness and US Soccer sporting events, as well as tennis tournaments like the US Open and Wimbledon.
The Ellisons were emerging as a major force in media well before they set their sights on WBD, with Larry Ellison owning software giant Oracle and recently acquiring a 15% stake in the new joint venture behind TikTok’s US operations.
Skydance Media was formed in 2006 by David Ellison, whose love of aviation inspired the moniker – having been gifted his first plane by his billionaire father at age 13.
After merging with Paramount in August and coming out on top of a months-long bidding war with Netflix this week, Skydance has transformed from a relatively small film company into one of the most competitive forces in Hollywood.
Paramount emerged victorious on Thursday after Warner Bros. deemed its revamped bid a “superior offer,” prompting Netflix to drop its efforts to buy WBD’s studio and streaming assets.
Paramount’s offer included a “ticking fee” for shareholders worth $650 million, a $7 billion regulatory breakup fee and a promise to cover the $2.8 billion penalty Warner Bros. would owe Netflix for breaking up their deal.
In December, Netflix agreed to acquire WBD’s studio and streaming businesses in a deal valued at $27.75 per share. But Paramount went on to sweeten its own offer, and an unsuccessful Thursday meeting between Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and White House staffers opposed to his bid appeared to seal the fate on the streamer’s plans.
