Skydance plans an HBO Max and Paramount+ bundle for early 2027

Skydance plans to launch a bundle of Paramount+ and HBO Max in early 2027, the company said Nov. 9 in its first earnings report since completing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Its third-quarter shareholder letter calls the bundle the first step toward bringing the two services together.

Starting in early 2027, consumers will be able to subscribe to both services in a single bundle "at an even greater value," the letter says, and the company will share more details on the bundle in the coming months. Pricing has not been announced. Paramount+, HBO and HBO Max together reach 203 million aggregate subscribers worldwide, though The Desk notes that figure does not account for customers who subscribe to both. Pluto TV has about 75 million monthly active users.

"Bundling is our first step towards unifying the two services," CEO David Ellison said on the earnings call. "It lets us start capturing the consumer and monetization benefits ahead of a fully unified product." Ellison said new pricing plans will be phased in "with discipline and consumer feedback" so the services can keep growing through the transition.

One tech stack in roughly a year

The shareholder letter says Skydance has largely completed phase one of its tech convergence, moving Pluto TV onto the unified Paramount+ platform across all major devices. On the earnings call, Ellison said that work, which also brought BET+ into Paramount+, took about 18 months. Using that experience, he said, the company has "an ambitious target to converge Paramount+ and HBO Max in roughly a year," a pace he credited to the latest artificial intelligence tools.

Running the services on a unified backend lowers operating costs, speeds up product development and gives the company shared personalization and monetization capabilities across its free and subscription offerings, according to the letter. Ellison said on the call that Skydance sees value in being a predominantly direct business while it weighs where third-party distribution partners add reach.

Paramount+ growth in the quarter

The third-quarter results cover Paramount Skydance before the Oct. 6 Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, The Desk reports, so they do not include WBD. Revenue rose 5% to $7.0 billion, net earnings were $73 million and adjusted EBITDA was $1.0 billion, a 14% margin, according to the shareholder letter.

Paramount+ revenue grew 21%, its fastest quarterly growth this year, with average revenue per user up about 14%. The Desk reports the service ended September with 82.2 million subscribers and that TV media revenue fell about 7% to $3 billion. Starting in February 2027, Skydance will stop disclosing quarterly subscriber totals and emphasize revenue and engagement measures instead, according to The Desk.

$6 billion in planned savings

Skydance expects at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years, with 30% realized in year one and 70% through year two. The letter lists at least $2.2 billion from corporate overhead, real estate and facilities, at least $1.4 billion from technology, at least $1.4 billion from procurement and vendor management, and at least $1.0 billion from marketing. The company starts from more than $30 billion in annual content spend.

The letter also says the near-term performance of the Warner Bros. film slate will weigh on fourth-quarter results. The Desk reports the shortfall could reduce fourth-quarter profit by as much as $200 million compared with earlier expectations. Skydance plans to share more with investors at an Investor Day in the first half of 2027.