On Tuesday, Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison informed reporters of its intention to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into one streaming app. At least that’s the “long term” plan. “It will take some time” for this to happen, he explained, so look for a bundling option in the immediate future.
The first day of the event celebrating the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery featured a wide-ranging conversation between media attendees and Ellison and Skydance co-CEO Yoann Kryze. But do you know which word never came up – not even once? “Search.” This was not said in reference to the WBD acronym, the brand’s multiple cable channels, or their sister streaming service.
Symbolically, it makes sense. The crown jewel properties are Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, CBS and CNN. But Hollywood has just gone through an era in which Discovery empire lord David Zaslav has set his company up with Warner Bros. in what looks like a merger of equals in 2022. And for many years, Discovery was in the news due in part to Warner Bros., thanks to the boss.
Now it seems that Discovery+ is being ignored, including by the mogul who now owns Discovery+. The streamer is home to linear programming on Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, Magnolia Network, and some CNN specials. It costs $5.99 per month with ads or $9.99 without ads.
How much later is a specific AVOD/SVOD service? Hours before the Skydance press conference, when subscription-economy measurement company Antenna provided a relevant press briefing to members of the media, they also left out Discovery+. Clearly, they had the data – they just didn’t think anyone cared. Well, hollywood reporter Cares.
By August 2026, Antenna estimates there will be 4.9 million paying Discovery+ subscribers in the US, and about half of them are ad-supported subscribers. (The streamer’s global subscriber count was last reported in March 2022, before the creation of WBD, when Discovery+ had 24 million subscriptions.) It makes sense for Discovery+ to kind of take a backseat to the big boys at Skydance: Paramount+ has about 34.5 million U.S. subscriptions (12.8 million ad-supported) and HBO Max has about 28.3 million. million (12.9 million ad-supported). The same data set that the Antenna representative actually emailed.
But Discovery+ shouldn’t be considered completely useless, because for starters, it’s not. Multiple sources said Discovery+ is profitable, possibly up to the low nine figures heart. (WBD doesn’t break out streamers in its quarterly and annual earnings reports.) Other than cloud storage through Amazon Web Services, there are practically zero expenses associated with streamers, one person said. In part, this is because Discovery+ no longer includes original programming. (Discovery+ carries shows from the next-day Discovery cable channel bundle; it’s a pure cord-cutter service.) Cable shows are a burden on cable.
Discovery+ also has a relatively low churn (cancellation) rate, so it provides a reliable revenue stream. It’s not cable, but it’s what we have. There was a time when HBO Max/Max contained almost all the same programming as Discovery+, but that content has been significantly reduced from WBD’s primary digital offering.
The closing announcement of the mega-deal contained a vague statement that may hint at something about the future of Discovery+.
Skydance’s acquisition-completion press release states, “Consumers can expect greater innovation from a company built with technology, including significant improvements to its native-to-consumer streaming products, which will be integrated into a single service over time.” There too, Discovery+ was not mentioned but other streamers were.
A Skydance spokesperson did not immediately respond. heartRequest for comment on plans for Discovery+.
So no one is talking about Discovery+ this week, but on the February 2026 earnings call, WBD Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Weidenfels In fact Wanted to talk about it.
“I want to talk about D+ for a second,” he said. “We haven’t talked about it much because HBO Max has been the main priority.”
It should be noted that Weidenfels did not come to Skydance.
“But if you remember when we merged with Warner Bros. Discovery, we were trying to spin off Discovery+,” Weidenfels added. “And the truth of the matter is that we still have millions of viewers who are engaged very regularly, who love the content. And that’s a tremendous opportunity. We’ve already reopened purchase flow in some international territories. And as you saw in our proxy, it’s a profitable business, and I think there’s a lot more ahead for us.”
Warner Bros. Discovery had the exclusive pan-European pay-TV and streaming rights to the Olympics until 2032, meaning Skydance now has those rights. It may put the games on the streamer of your choice, but this was one way Discovery+ made itself essential.
In other words, there’s no business reason to shut down Discovery+ under new management, so it’ll likely continue. If no one is talking about it, it’s probably because it’s a low priority under the “mountain of entertainment” of the combined companies – with $80 billion of debt, you work from big to small. A Wall Street analyst said heart That’s Ellison & Company. No real time should be spent on properties that will seriously impact that number.
On Monday, also known as WBD’s RIP Day, Ellison publicly unveiled his senior leadership team for the new (and improved?) Skydance. He wisely chose HBO chief Casey Bloys to run Skydance’s streaming business, and added oversight of Paramount+ and Pluto TV to Bloys’s HBO Max purview. There again, “Discovery+” isn’t talked about as much, but Pluto(!) gets involved.