HBO Max was the final rebrand with HBO set to join new streamer
With Paramount Skydance now confirmed to be acquiring Warner Brothers Discovery, CEO David Ellison has held a conference call with investors and media.
There are still a lot of questions hovering over whether the deal will even be approved, let alone what Ellison is planning to do with the business. But he did confirm that the plan is to offer a combined streaming service. It didn’t really make a whole lot of sense that they would run two seperate streaming services – the whole point of the merger was to create an entity that could compete with the larger streamers (Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video).
What became clear in the call was that the HBO Max brand is toast, but whatever the new service will be called, HBO will be a brand featured on-platform.
As per THR:
“HBO is a crown jewel in this business, having brought to life some of the most powerful stories told over generations,” Ellison said. “Under our ownership, it will continue to have the resources and independence to do what it does best. At the same time, we believe in licensing our content to other platforms and producing third party content in our television studios, and we are committed to growing our studios and the popular shows they create.”By mid-2026, Paramount will have consolidated Paramount+, FAST platform Pluto TV and BET+ “under one unified stack,” he said, “and you can see us taking a similar approach to [HBO Max] going forward. We think the combined offering, given the amount of content and what we can do from the tech side, really will put us in a position to be able to compete with the most scaled players in DTC.”
That makes me think that Ellison will launch the new service ahead of the closure of the deal and just add the WBD content once it is available.
Ellison praised HBO chief Casey Bloys and said that HBO will maintain its independence, which seems to be an assurance that Bloys and his team won’t be reporting to Paramount’s Chair of Direct To Consumer Cindy Holland.
“Casey and his team do absolutely a remarkable job at HBO,” said Ellison, who told analysts on the call that “Game of Thrones” is his favorite HBO series. “And as we said, we do plan for that to be able to operate with independence, so that HBO can, candidly, do what it does incredibly well. Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO. They built a phenomenal brand. They are a leader in the space, and we just want them to continue doing more of it. But by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience than we can do standalone.”
As CNBC notes, Bloys contract is up in 2027. The only scenario in which I could imagine Bloys leaving HBO would be if he was offered a role at Netflix. That is a business that would benefit from a prestige TV unit, but the creation of that doesn’t really make a lot of sense under the current Netflix structure.
Further reading:
Paramount Won Over Warner Bros. Now for the Regulators - New York Times
Paramount just told employees what their year-end bonuses are — and changed how they are calculated - Business Insider
Europe Won’t Kill the Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal — But It Could Make David Ellison Wait - THR
More Than a Quarter of HBO Max Subscribers in the U.S. Already Have Paramount+ - THR
Lachlan Murdoch Says Ellison-Backed CNN Will Be “Strong Competitor” Of Fox News, But “Running News Is Hard” - Deadline
All the Ways Netflix Actually Won Even Though It Lost Warner - Wall St Journal
How much longer does Nine want to keep Karl Stefanovic?
In an article published over the weekend, The Guardian’s media writer Amanda Meade wrote about Karl Stefanovic’s lurch to the far right with guests on his video podcast The Karl Stefanovic Show.
Since launching the podcast in late January, the show has both reached the second spot on the Apple Podcast charts (just behind Mamamia Out Loud), generated more than 50,000 YouTube subscribers, and found an audience happy to publish antisemitic and pro neo-Nazi comments.
One has to wonder what Nine thinks about this. The Australian TV broadcaster is paying Karl a reported $2.8 million dollars to from the Today show. It gave him approval to launch his podcast, with Meade reporting that management agreed in return for a reduction in his pay packet.
Did they sign off on him platforming an anti-vaxxer this week in an interview where Karl claimed to regret taking part in a health campaign to encourage COVID jabs?
This is what he said while talking with Gerard Rennick, a former Senator (2019-2025) who was a vocal critic of COVID-19 measures like vaccine mandates and lockdowns:
“The one thing they say about me is that I supported the COVID jab, and I have regrets from that time, and I am definitely sorry for the role I played in not questioning the science, in not questioning more the government mandates, and I feel like I isolated people because of that, and I don’t think the media should be involved in that kind of messaging.
“What I do believe is that we should have been there to offer some sort of education, but we shouldn’t have taken that step further and been part of a campaign. And I’m legitimately sorry for that, because I don’t know how that would have felt for people out there.”
Context is, of course, everything. When comments like this are being made mid-interview with a figure like Rennick, it is done with the aim of validating Rennick’s antivax beliefs.
Would Nine allow its host to make comments in support of antivax beliefs on its own airwaves? Does it meet Nine’s editorial standards? We have a prominent Nine personality making very public comments that counter public health messaging – that should be a concern.
Does Nine share Karl’s views? Does it now regret segments like this from the Today show (that’s David Campbell as the male host in this segment, not Karl) with former AMA President Dr Mukesh Haikerwal speaking from an informed position on medical science on the importance of the COVID vaccine?
Surely Nine need to rebuke Karl’s comments, but the question is surely brewing on how much longer Nine wants someone like Stefanovic fronting its national breakfast show.
And if Karl is looking at a post-Nine future? Is all of this an audition to become the face of David Ellison’s Australian broadcast network 10?
Always Be Watching reached out to Nine for comment.
DAZN in talks to sign Delany
The AFR today reports that DAZN is in talks with Foxtel’s Patrick Delany for an international promotion to take a “new, unspecified role” with the global sports streamer.
ABW notes that this news is breaking just a week shy of the two-year anniversary of Foxtel’s ill-fated streaming hardware product Hubbl. I like my Hubbl box, but with the device already on life-support at Foxtel, it is safe to say that the hardware and the multimillion dollar campaign to launch it was not a highpoint of Delany’s tenure at Foxtel.
News Desk
Disney has announced it’ll make a fifth instalment of its Zombies musical undead tween movie franchise, to be titled Zombies 5 and not Zombie5, which feels like a missed opportunity. Read: Dark Horizons
Fox has renewed its Doc Martin remake Best Medicine for a second season. Read: THR
Steven Moffat looks back at his first TV show Press Gang. Says upcoming show Number 10 is the closest thing he has ever done to Press Gang. Read: Radio Times
Netflix will stream Harry Style’s upcoming Manchester concert (his first concert in three years) two days after the event. It’s in support of his album Kiss All the Time. Disco Occasionally, which is a good album title. Read: THR
Colin From Accounts is in production on season 3. Read: Deadline
NBC News is talking up its Kornacki Cam for its 2026 midterm election coverage. I’ll follow Steve Kornacki to any election broadcast, but the Kornacki Cam is always a bit nonsense – if he has anything interesting to share, it’ll be on the NBC News full coverage broadcast. Read: THR
Netflix has acquired Werner Film’s tween comedy horror series Crazy Fun Park for the Australian market. It debuts April 1. Read: C21
Trailer Park
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice debuts on Hulu March 27.
“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” stars Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, Jimmy Tatro, Stephen Root, Lewis Tan, Ben Schwartz, Emily Hampshire, and Arturo Castro, and is written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski. The film is a hilarious, stylized, R-rated action-comedy about two gangsters and the woman they love trying to survive the most dangerous night of their lives. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one wild ingredient added to the mix: a time machine.
One Piece returns for season 2 on Netflix March 10.
53 Sundays debuts on Netflix March 27.
When three siblings agree to meet and discuss their aging father's future, their reunion spirals into bickering, bantering and reliving old grudges.
Hello Bachnon debuts on Netflix March 6.
A physics teacher sets out to make quality education accessible to all students through online learning. Based on a true story.
BEASTARS returns for its final run of shows on March 7 at Netflix.
1000 Women in Horror debuts on Shudder March 10.
This documentary offers a deep dive into how women pioneers revolutionized horror cinema through their groundbreaking work as directors, actors, and creators since 1895, leaving an indelible mark on the genre's evolution.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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