It looks like Paramount Global is still looking to merge its Paramount+ streaming service with another similar company. CNBC is reporting, via unnamed sources, that Paramount "is having active discussions with other media and tech company executives" to merge Paramount+ where the parent company could co-owned the service after the merger is completed.
The story also says that Warner Bros Discovery wants to make such a deal with Paramount. If those talks bear fruit, that could mean Paramount+ would merge its content with that of the Max streaming service.
Paramount+ currently has about 71 million subscribers, while Max has about 100 million subscribers worldwide. There"s likely to be at least some customer overlap between those two services if they merged, but it would still likely result in a much bigger streaming service in terms of numbers to fight against the major services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video.
If this kind of talk sounds familiar, it should. In December 2023, there were rumors that Paramount+ might merge with Apple TV+, but those talks did not come to anything. In early 2024, there were other rumors that Paramount+ might merge with Comcast and NBCUniversal"s Peacock service.
This new report would seem to suggest that Paramount Global feels that it cannot make money with a streaming service it alone controls and owns. Merging Paramount+ with another service like Max could help with costs while also offering subscribers one less service to sign up for.
In May, Disney and Warners Bros. Discovery announced it would give customers a new bundle deal for the Disney+, Hulu, and Max streaming services for one monthly price sometime later this summer. Details on this new bundle, including its prices, have yet to be revealed, although we do know that it will have both ad-free and ad-based plan options.