On Tuesday, Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison briefed reporters on plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single streaming app. At least that’s the “long term” plan. “It will take some time” for that to happen, he explained, so look for a consolidation option in the more immediate future.
The first day event celebrating the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery led to a wide-ranging conversation between the media in attendance and Ellison and Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kriez. But do you know what word has never been spoken – not even once? “Discovery.” This was not said in the context of the WBD acronym, the brand’s many cable channels, or their associated streaming service.
Symbolically, this makes sense. The crown jewels are Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, CBS and CNN. But Hollywood has just gone through an era where David Zaslav, the head of the Discovery empire, made his company look like a merger of equals when it joined forces with Warner Bros. in 2022. And for several years, Discovery was in the conversation just as much as the Warner Bros. side, thanks to the boss.
It now appears that Discovery+ is being neglected, including by the tycoon who now owns Discovery+. The streamer hosts linear programming on Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, Magnolia Network and select CNN specials. It costs $5.99 per month with ads or $9.99 without.
To what extent is the AVOD/SVOD niche service secondary? Hours before the Skydance press conference, when subscription economy measurement company Antenna provided members of the media with a relevant press briefing, they also omitted Discovery+. To be clear, they had the numbers – they just didn’t think anyone cared. GOOD, The Hollywood Reporter cares.
As of August 2026, Antenna estimates that there are 4.9 million paid Discovery+ subscribers in the United States, and about half of them are ad-supported members. (The last time the streamer’s global subscriber count was reported was in March 2022, before WBD was founded, when Discovery+ had 24 million subscribers.) It’s understandable that Discovery+ is taking a back seat at Skydance to the bigger ones: Paramount+ has about 34.5 million paid U.S. subscriptions (12.8 million ad-supported), and HBO Max has about 28.3 million (12.9 million ad-supported), according to the same data set, the one that the Antenna representative actually sent via email.
But Discovery+ shouldn’t be seen as completely worthless, because, to begin with, it’s not. Discovery+ is profitable, perhaps nine figures, several sources said. THR. (WBD did not separate streamers in its quarterly and annual earnings reports.) Beyond cloud storage through Amazon Web Services, there are virtually no expenses associated with the streamer, one person said. This is partly because Discovery+ no longer contains original programming. (Discovery+ offers shows from the Discovery cable channel package the next day; it’s a pure cord-cutting service.) Cable shows are cable’s burden.
Discovery+ also has a relatively low churn (cancellation) rate, allowing it to provide a reliable source of revenue. It’s not cable, but it’s what we have. There was a time when HBO Max/Max was expected to offer almost all of the same programming as Discovery+, but that content has been significantly reduced compared to WBD’s main digital offering.
There was a vague statement in the mega-deal closing announcement that might indicate something about the future of Discovery+.
“Consumers can expect greater innovation from a company built around technology, including significant enhancements to its direct-to-consumer streaming products, which will be unified into a single service over time,” the full press release for the Skydance acquisition reads. Again, Discovery+ was not mentioned but the other streamers were.
A Skydance spokesperson did not immediately respond to THRrequest for comments on Discovery+ projects.
So no one is talking about Discovery+ this week, but on a February 2026 earnings call, WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. Really I 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 Wiedenfels did not come to Skydance.
“But if you remember back when we merged with Warner Bros. Discovery, we were trying to shut down Discovery+,” Wiedenfels continued. “And the fact is, we still have millions of viewers who are very consistently engaged, who love the content. And there’s a tremendous opportunity. We’ve already reopened the buy stream in some international territories. And as you saw in our proxy, it’s a profitable business, and I think there’s a lot more for us to do.”
Warner Bros. Discovery held the exclusive pan-European pay TV and streaming rights for the Olympics until 2032, meaning Skydance now owns those rights. He can stream the Games on the streamer of his choice, but that’s one of the reasons why Discovery+ has made itself essential.
In other words, there’s no business reason for Discovery+ to be shut down under new management, so it will likely continue. If no one is talking about it, it’s probably because it’s a low priority on the “Entertainment Mountain” of merged companies: with $80 billion in debt, you’re working from big to small. A Wall Street analyst said THR that Ellison & co. should not spend a lot of time on assets that seriously hurt this figure.
On Monday, also known as WBD’s RIP Day, Ellison publicly revealed his management team for the new (and improved?) Skydance. He wisely chose HBO chief Casey Bloys to lead Skydance’s streaming business, adding oversight of Paramount+ and Pluto TV to Bloys’ HBO Max purview. Again, “Discovery+” wasn’t whispered, but Pluto (!) snuck in.
Gn entert
