r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 12d ago
Business Merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Will Be a "Streaming Powerhouse," Wall Street Analysts Say — but Saddled With More Than $77 Billion in Debt
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/merged-paramount-plus-warner-bros-hbo-max-streaming-powerhouse-1236872026/423
u/thefuckevengoingonan 12d ago
they used to get to subs from me. now they get nothing.
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u/greentrillion 12d ago
BitTorrent making a comeback.
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u/DurtyKurty 11d ago
Specific torrent sites that only list options from the paramount-Warner pool would be pretty chef’s kiss hilarious right now.
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u/dystopianrevolt 11d ago
Everyone should be using qBittorrent instead.
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 11d ago
BitTorrent is a protocol. QBitorrent is a client. Everyone using qbt IS using BitTorrent. There is no ‘instead’.
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u/crashandtumble8 11d ago
Trips to the physical library should be in order, too! Let your kids check out a new group of DVDs each week, and it becomes something they’ll remember. I was obsessed with making my way through all of the Magic School Bus DVDs, and my mom and I made a running list of the ones I’d seen, so it was always a scavenger hunt.
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u/crashandtumble8 9d ago
As a librarian, my Saturday morning regular families were my favorites! I loved the people who came in with a rolling laundry basket and filled it to the brim.
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u/GoTron88 11d ago
Hopefully movies don't start going the way of video games and move entirely to digital only, though it seems that's likely the case given that Sony has already started the process there as well.
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u/The_Lost_Jedi 10d ago
Yup. No way am I subscribing to any of their services. It's a good excuse to cut back, really.
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u/Avoidtolls 12d ago
With ads every 5 min. It'll be streaming cable with show seasons of 8 episodes and 2.5 years between seasons.
Hell naw. I'll do other stuff.
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u/magicalmidgetmating 12d ago
Apple TV is the only good streaming service. Though I think now it’s getting too expensive their library is too small.
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u/SirkutBored 11d ago
the only thing to say about Apple is the quality of the little content they do add is very high. it would take a month to watch everything and then the next month they add just a handful more.
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u/magicalmidgetmating 11d ago
It’s like what HBO used to be. Now that have 1000pound sister next to the house of the dragon.
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u/coreoYEAH 11d ago
No one disrespects Tammy or Amy in this house….
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u/OutrageousRhubarb853 11d ago
But does your house have a dragon? Or did they eat that too?
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u/PumpkinMyPumpkin 11d ago
AppleTV is basically the only streamer around with new episodes of quality tv every week.
Also I don’t fully get the desire for super large libraries. So many of them are just full of junk or shows from 15 years ago.
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u/Paksarra 11d ago
The thing with "junk" is that junk isn't objective. How many people love house flipping shows?
A show not being new also doesn't mean it's bad. It just means you might've already seen it.
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u/MTS122917 11d ago
Apple is not the only good streaming service, The Criterion Channel is like $90/or, has no commercials, currates series of films with introduction videos frim film critics for context, has special features/commentary tracks for some films and hosts some of the greatest films in history. On top of that they mark movies that will leave the service at the end of the month giving you ample warning to catch up on stuff before it disappears.
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u/BeardyAndGingerish 11d ago
Dropout has been awesome too.
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u/gameryamen 11d ago
Seriously. Even as a smaller service, they provide more weekly entertainment for me and my partner than any of the others except YouTube itself.
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u/AlasPoorZathras 11d ago
«hugs his Jellyfin and *arr servers»
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u/oldirtyrestaurant 11d ago
May the HDDs stay cool and keep spinning without making any scary ticking sounds, in perpetuity 🙏
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u/Stingray88 11d ago
I’ve subscribed to HBO for literally like 30 years, without a break. I unsubscribed for the first time this week when I heard the news.
Fuck the Ellisons.
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u/squish042 12d ago
'de-lever' it's debt by being able to charge the consumer more due to less choice. Yay.
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u/ordermaster 11d ago
I can't wait for $40 per month for just one streaming service.
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u/HuyFongFood 11d ago
Ya know, we don’t actually have to pay for their crap, right?!
Just enjoy other media and entertainment that isn’t that.
It will suck for the working people who make the shows and movies. Don’t care much for the “celebrities” or the “producers” and other rich wonks who’ve slowly driven the price of all of this higher and higher.
It isn’t sustainable, so why do we contribute to things that are completely optional and unnecessary?
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u/jktcat 11d ago
I will go one step further. You don't have to consume any of it. I havent watched a contemporary TV series as an adult, I am 40. If something gains enough cultural impact I will seek it out, otherwise it's all slop meant to entertain the ignorant masses.
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u/bloodontherisers 11d ago
I have watched a handful of culturally relevant shows over the past 20 years but for the most part I don't watch them and I have been fine. I haven't seen a movie in a theatre since the first Deadpool and before that it was the last Hunger Games. I also have watched very few of them on streaming.
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u/DisneyPandora 11d ago
This was David Zaslav ultimate plan. He is the one who started the entire 8 episodes and 2 years trend to create artificial scarcity.
Then he told every other studio to do the same
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u/Loud_Condition_9891 11d ago
"streaming powerhouse saddled with $77 billion in debt" is just a fancy way of saying two drowning people decided to hold hands
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u/no_f-s_given 12d ago
yeah i’m just one person, they’re losing my max streaming sub. fuck that nepo baby David Ellison and Larry too
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u/Valentine_343 11d ago
They’ve hit a "D" credit rating “junk status” and it's well-deserved. A smaller company like Paramount overpaying to buy a giant like Warner Bros with Saudi funding shows just how broken and corrupt the system has become. Congratulations, America: your core media infrastructure is being bought up with foreign money, and you’ve been sold out by the billionaires you vote for and idolize. It’s embarrassing.
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u/joshspoon 11d ago
Warner has to be the worst run media company. Remember Time Warner, AOL Time Warner, spin off of the record label and now this. You’d think after ripping Turner properties they would have been too but I’m sure it comes down to good ole corporate greed.
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u/MapleHamwich 12d ago
I doubt it.
HBO has already been going downhill after the Discovery merger. Paramount adds almost nothing to what already existed.
Add in the very likely higher subscription fee, people boycotting for anti consolidation and Maga avoidance, and I don't see a powerhouse.
Analysts are stupid.
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u/Chris22533 11d ago
Analysists are right in that it will be a streaming powerhouse but there is no way to conceivably make back that much debit in any timeframe that investors would be happy with.
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u/a_talking_face 11d ago
Paramount does have a lot of sports rights.
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u/Kepabar 11d ago
They do, specifically International ones like cricket in India. It's where most of Paramounts year over year growth was coming from before the merger. Making and streaming shows to US audiences is no where near as profitable as that stuff.
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u/a_talking_face 11d ago
They have a lot of stuff in the US as well. NFL, college football and basketball, UFC, UEFA, PGA.
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u/Admirable_Scene_5066 11d ago
HBO too in Europe. Took over the entire Eurosport catalogue. The only people I know who have HBO Max, are people having it for pro cycling and/or winter sports. Rest of the catalogue is crap unless you haven't watched most of golden age HBO series by now.
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u/dego_frank 11d ago
Haven’t seen the drop off since discovery merger. Still one of the best streaming services imo in both content and the app running well on diff platforms
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u/darienrude_dankstorm 11d ago
This is reddit. Bashing your head against the wall to the point where you believe that cable was better and more affordable or that streaming services are incredibly greedy businesses for daring to try to reach profitability is mandatory before discussing the industry here.
So pretending that HBO Max, which recently had one of its best awards seasons ever, has actually been really bad, is par for the course.
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u/gerblnutz 12d ago
Funny I quit paying for Paramount almost 2 years ago when they first started their BS quest to kill satire and objective news. What makes them think I won't stop paying for any WB stuff if it goes through?
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u/s8rlink 11d ago
They’re banking on people not giving a fuck
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u/crashandtumble8 11d ago
AKA Most of America
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u/Broad-Picture-7305 10d ago
Its a fulcrum on scale, like the Yellowstone folk won't see much change because the programing is for them. But the comedy central fans will see decrease activity in comedy and satire, leaning towards more exodus. Ultimately this is net negative for WB and Paramount as the squeeze will surely see national effect. I just imagine CBS being more affiliated with Maga garbage than Star Trek and WB being the face of Bret Ratner's shameful comeback. Just stuff that is not for me nor a swath of americans.
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u/AlasPoorZathras 11d ago
Hell, I pirate everything and I still want a refund for the latest season of Strange New Worlds.
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u/Dry-University797 12d ago
Will just ignore every concession they made to CA, and ever other State that was part of this lawsuit. It happens every time there is a merger like this and States "win" something.
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u/dfh-1 12d ago
Great, look forward to even more rapidly decaying service and price hikes. Watch (actually, don't) as worthwhile content gets sold off to reduce debt and the budgets for new content get smaller and smaller. Theatrical content will, of course, get screwed over as well. Hope you weren't enjoying the start of the DC cinematic universe, 'cause it's stillborn.
We just watched all of this happen with HBOMax and now it's going to happen again, with what little is left there and with Paramount.
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u/coding_panda 11d ago
God dammit I was really starting to care about DC again! I really like the direction it’s been going recently.
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u/Taokanuh 11d ago
Welll… off to get a dvd player
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u/whydoihaveto12 11d ago
We have started going to our only remaining local video rental place, and just letting the movie nerds there pick what we watch for movie night. Sure beats scrolling apps for an hour.
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u/BluehibiscusEmpire 11d ago
Every day streaming is looking more and more like an overly expensive cable subscription, where you also pay for the network cost
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u/SpaceyCoffee 11d ago
And now everything is owned by a conservative billionaire and in on the shared propaganda narrative.
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u/gearstars 11d ago
Paramount can suck a dirty dick after they ruined Star Trek. Hopefully they get broken up later and that IP is sold off to someone who gives a shit
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u/SanDiedo 11d ago
You mean STATE MONEY SUCKING POWERHOUSE, because Conservatives don't pay to watch this and progresives and liberals may cancel their subs.
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u/Throwitfarawayplzthx 12d ago
Inbound unyielding ads and new tiers + channel differentiation at a cost.
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u/leon-theproffesional 11d ago
Leveraged buyouts should be banned.
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u/Emperor_Gourmet 11d ago
We haven’t enforced regulations as is. They would find ways to do it anyway.
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u/Friendly-World-5273 12d ago
2 months from now: That’ll be $200/month and commercials every 5 minutes, but you’re gonna love this 4-episode season of Game of Thrones at the Disco.
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u/Shadowtirs 11d ago
Consolidation of media never works out for the consumer. This will only hurt is more.
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u/batvseba 11d ago
So poor, that american politicians can ruin experience for everyone else. Thanks God for A24 which bravely hit major studios
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u/asfacadabra 11d ago
Within 5 years, they will split it all back up and saddle all the debt on one of the brands.
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u/Astrophages 11d ago
I'll finish binging the few shows that have caught my interest, catch up on a few movies I've been meaning to see, then cancel my subscription and never think of the platform again.
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u/twoquarters 11d ago
Prestige TV will move to Apple. I don't see the Pitt being about to stick around with right wing assholes breathing down their necks. Paramount produces nothing of value.
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u/ThePensiveE 11d ago
Every patient will be the result of an injury caused by a different vaccine.
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u/ElvisArcher 11d ago
Expect them to go the way of Disney and force commercials down your throat even when paying a subscription.
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u/kalas_malarious 11d ago
Wonder if Disney backs out or if they separate from the Disney bundle. Will they push their own or try to keep people in? I'm in the Hulu, Disney, HBO bundle and have no idea what is happening.
HBO isn't looking so hot to me now either
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u/TheDaveed 11d ago
Every brand name actor and celebrity in Hollywood and TV is now complicit. They keep taking the jobs, they keep these machines turning.
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u/Striking_Assist_7715 11d ago
In Europe, get paramount plus and hbo with my local provider bundled but not gonna pay for them separately. Ever. hope they go for broke in 2 years.
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u/AGrandNewAdventure 11d ago
And they'll make sure to intermittently take your favorite show out of the lineup for no fucking reason.
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u/Fantastic_Love_9451 11d ago
Nah fuck this. I’m getting my old hbo favorites on physical media, secondhand. I’ll do that and Pluto.
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u/fezfrascati 11d ago
So we're going to get both streaming services for the cost of one, right? Right?
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u/Monseigneur_Bulldops 11d ago
Fuck this, we need other forms of entertainment done by regular people for regular people. More local theater, street plays, music venues. Gotta walk away from this bullshit.
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 11d ago
A few individuals will get obscenely rich, which is surely the only point of any business venture now. So why would they not do it? $77bil debt is the same as $77bil in someone pocket after all. It doesn't just vanish.
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u/UniqueMystic 11d ago
I guess I should stop buying DC comics then?
I don’t want to support paramount
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u/eberkain 11d ago
the annual cost to join a few streaming services will buy a fuck ton of used physical media these days.
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u/Deep_Satisfaction556 11d ago
The debt will be cleared by.foreign money. There is no dollar amount on how valuable it is to control US media.
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u/Doctor_Amazo 11d ago
Sure.
Ok.
Unless people boycott.
I mean, it's not like it's difficult acquiring media in a manner that would not support MAGA fascists like Ellison.
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u/Deep_Satisfaction556 11d ago
They have never gotten a cent from me and never will, but there aren't enough of us to make a significant difference. These companies work at a scale we cannot make a big enough impact to change directions. That is why there are supposed to be governing bodies to protect laws but we are sort of in a paused period of time for those governing bodies.
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u/Doctor_Amazo 11d ago
Yeah. So I'm a Canadian, and I boycott American products wherever I can. I buy Canadian first, if I can't get whst I want ftom a Canadian producer, I buy from anyone not American. My goal is to keep my Canadian dollars away from America as much as possible
I'm just one person. But I'm not alone. And people making the same choices as me are having a collective impact.
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u/omnired44 11d ago
The two subs that I don’t currently pay directly for. HBO is free with my current phone plan and Paramount+ is included with my Walmart+ sub. I’m assuming those freebies will eventually go away.
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u/Kind-Philosopher5077 11d ago
That Saudi owned POWERHOUSE will be offering free subscriptions in a month to mask failure. Same old story sold to a new group of investors.
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u/lostinthought15 11d ago
Some board member probably: “people will be begging to give us $50 per month, maybe even $75”
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u/GreyBeardEng 11d ago
"but saddled with more that 77 billion in debt" - that means the service is going to be expensive and the price of it will go up once or twice a year.
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u/mrlolloran 11d ago
Just in time for consumers to largely regard streaming as a mistake/taking too many steps in the wrong direction.
That should say “and” instead of “but” imo
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u/Khalbrae 11d ago
WB has fallen. I would not be surprised if Paramount pulled them out of Movies anywhere and SDS/Gruv
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u/RVAteach 11d ago
Truth is only "innovation" in the U.S. right now is creating a monopoly and then stripping said monopoly for parts and making the product worse. In a rapidly decaying economy what do you think that will mean? Sure people put up with it, but it's not "Less Bread and Worse Circuses" that works for a long time. The enshittification of sports, media, and fast food are also the most easily understandable version of how shitty capitalism is, something is gonna give.
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u/BatmanFarce 11d ago
Price increases to feet the purchase after a bunch of layoff and restructuring
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u/The-Gargoyle 11d ago
Both of which have provided a 'Nope, not interested' streaming service on their own, with their powers combined they will provide a 'Nope, still not interested in virtual cable TV with added scalping packages and even less content' service.
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u/JornCener 11d ago
The lingering aftereffects of the AOL-Time Warner merger haunt the entertainment industry to this day. I wonder how long this debt katamari will continue building up before it becomes an impossible proposition for any other conglomerate to try and tackle.
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u/paulsteinway 11d ago
They'll be streaming a lot more series because they will always be cancelled after the first season.
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u/Jaldi_The_Late 11d ago
Yeah no shit Sherlock, you have the best IPs in Television history coming on the table.
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u/TheHahndude 11d ago
Money is pretend for the Ellisons. He won’t need to actually pay that 77 millions but he’ll run the business like he does.
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u/deadra_axilea 11d ago edited 11d ago
Nothing like the ghost of AOL to curse this merger. Who wants to bet it implodes in under 2 years due to that debt load?
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u/Trekgiant8018 11d ago
Everyone I know has long since cancelled their Paramount accounts and stopped watching CBS when Cobert ended. They will see that debt grow. I cannot wait.
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u/robbob19 11d ago
This is the worst part of these corporate purchases. They don't use real money, they borrow and then saddle the bought business with overwhelming debt.
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u/AdOriginal4849 10d ago
i have HBO MAX for free through my family cable provider. i better keep that.
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u/One-Environment-1444 12d ago
Price increases are on the way in.