The streaming landscape has been rocked by the massive earthquake of the Warner Media/Discovery merger, with AT&T announcing Monday morning that it will spin off its content business and merge it with Discovery to form a super media company larger than Netflix.
The move will bring many major entertainment brands under the same umbrella, including HBO, Warner Bros. Movie Studios, CNN, DC Comics, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, and Animal Planet.
The new company would have two streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery Plus. And for consumers, this could lead to integrations and bundling, similar to what Disney offers for Disney Plus and Hulu.
Combined, WarnerMedia and Discovery had revenues of over $41 billion and operating income of over $10 billion last year. According to the New York Times, the merger would be larger than Netflix, making it the second largest media company in the U.S. after Disney.
The merger still needs to be approved by Discovery shareholders and is subject to regulatory oversight, but is expected to be completed by mid-2022.
And once completed, the deal will completely upend streaming competition and create a major challenger to Netflix.
For media companies, streaming is the future. Disney offers Disney Plus, WarnerMedia offers HBO Max, NBCUniversal offers Peacock, ViacomCBS offers Paramount Plus (built from CBS All Access), and Discovery Discovery offers Discovery Plus.
These streaming services were built to showcase and profit from each company's own content. Now, two of those companies are joining forces to challenge the streaming leaders.
HBO Max has about 20 million subscribers, while Discovery cites 15 million global streaming subscribers. This is not even close to Netflix's 208 million or Disney Plus's 100 million. However, HBO Max and Discovery Plus combined are stronger competitors for streaming dollars.
With so many services currently on the market, churn is a major concern. Most consumers cannot subscribe to all services, paying one month and cancelling the next.
HBO Max and Discovery Plus actually complement each other; HBO Max's catalog boasts quality scripted movies and TV shows, while Discovery Plus is filled with unscripted programming on cooking, home, travel, and relationships. The integrated service will offer just about everything.
They can also be bundled at a discounted price if they remain separate services. Disney offers a bundled service that offers Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus at a discounted price.
HBO Max is already the best streaming service thanks to its premium content. Any way you look at it, adding Discovery Plus is a great streaming option (HBO Discovery Max Plus?)
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