Skydance will sell HBO Max and Paramount+ as a single bundle from early 2027, the company told shareholders on 9 November. As IGN reports, the letter promises subscribers access to both services “at an even greater value” and says more details on the bundle and the streaming roadmap will arrive in the coming months.
The bundle is the opening move in a longer plan. T3 reports that the letter says Skydance will launch a bundled offering of HBO Max and Paramount+ in early 2027, and calls it the first step toward bringing the two together. Skydance CEO David Ellison has said for months that the goal is one platform. In a March investor call, he said the combined services give the company a position to compete with the leaders in the space, with a little over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers between them.
That scale is now official. Deadline reports that the two services reach a combined 203 million subscribers, which keeps the group well behind Netflix but closer to Disney and Amazon Prime Video. The figure counts subscriptions rather than people, and covers Paramount+, HBO and HBO Max, so anyone paying for both is probably counted twice.
What’s still missing
Skydance hasn’t named a price, a bundle name or the countries where it will launch. It also hasn’t given an exact launch date, and it hasn’t said how the bundle will work technically. One report says the early version will keep each service as its own app and library, with subscribers paying one combined price, but that isn’t confirmed by the company.
Pricing is the question to watch. Deadline says that on the earnings call Ellison described a plan to phase in new plans for pricing, with discipline and consumer feedback during the bundle phase, which suggests the bundle won’t be the last pricing change. On the timeline, Skydance has said it aims to align the backend systems of the two platforms within a year of closing the deal, which completed on 6 October.
What it means for the UAE
For viewers here, the bundle’s reach is unclear. HBO content isn’t available in the UAE through HBO Max. Gulf News explained after the merger closed that Dubai-based OSN holds an exclusive multi-year deal to show HBO programming on OSN+ and OSNtv across the Middle East and North Africa.
OSN+ sets its own prices, and any change for subscribers in the UAE would depend on OSN’s licensing arrangement with Skydance. In a statement to Gulf News, an OSN spokesperson said its agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery remain unchanged following the deal. That statement predates the bundle announcement, and we haven’t seen Skydance or OSN say whether the bundle will reach the region.
Until Skydance publishes a market list and price, there’s nothing to switch to or cancel. We’d keep your current subscriptions as they are and wait for the details promised in the coming months.
Will the HBO Max and Paramount+ bundle launch in the UAE?
Skydance hasn’t said which countries get it. HBO programming in the UAE currently streams on OSN+ rather than HBO Max, so any regional version would depend on how Skydance and OSN handle that deal.
How much will the bundle cost?
Skydance hasn’t announced a price. The company says it will share more details on the bundle in the coming months.
Are HBO Max and Paramount+ merging into one app?
That’s the long-term plan, and Ellison has called the bundle the first step. Skydance hasn’t given a date for a single combined service or said what it will be called.
