Warner Bros. Discovery has indicated early interest in exploring a partnership with Paramount Global to combine WBD’s Max and Paramount+, according to sources. Paramount Global, after its controlling shareholder Shari Redstone scrapped merger talks with Skydance Media last month , is proceeding under a new strategic plan under three co-CEOs to slash costs, explore the sale of certain assets and accelerate the profitability of Paramount+ via a possible joint venture with another player.
One potential streaming dance partner for Paramount is Warner Bros. Discovery. A source confirmed WBD’s preliminary interest in evaluating a streaming JV with Paramount Global, as first reported by CNBC .
Of course, it’s not a surprise that Warner Bros. Discovery would at least look into the feasibility of a streaming JV with Paramount, given how public Paramount Global’s leadership team has been about their desire to land a partner. At this point, the situation more or less involves each company kicking the tires on what such a partnership could look like.
Reps for Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global declined to comment. At Paramount Global’s June 25 employee town hall meeting , Chris McCarthy, one of the members of the three-headed Office of the CEO (and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks), discussed two potential streaming partnerships.
The first option “is to enter a deep, long-term relationship with a leading technology platform, whic.