Paramount Planning to Merge Paramount+ With AEW Streaming Partner HBO Max

Paramount recently won the bidding war with Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Should the proposed merger pass regulatory approval, the company intends to merge Paramount+ with WBD’s streaming platform, HBO Max.

The streaming platform offers AEW’s pay-per-views and is home to the company’s weekly shows, Dynamite and Collision. It also features the archive of AEW events.

According to Variety, Paramount CEO David Ellison laid out the company’s vision following the proposed merger during an investor call earlier today. Ellison said, “We will combine the streaming portfolios of the two companies into one stronger platform over the coming years. There are more than 200 million subscribers today and more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, positioning us to compete effectively with the leading streaming services in today’s marketplace.

He continued: “As we said, we do plan to put the two services together, which today gives us a little over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers. We think that really positions us to compete with the leaders in the space. At Paramount, by the middle of this year, we’ll have completed the consolidation of our three services under one unified stack, and you can see us taking a similar approach to this platform going forward. And we think the combined offering, and 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 [Direct to Consumer].”

The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, provided it overcomes regulatory hurdles.