Friday 5 August 2022 12:58 AM Warner Bros confirmed plans that HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine into one ... trends now
Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed it will merge its HBO Max and Discovery+ services into one streaming platform next year.
During a quarterly earnings call on Thursday, CEO David Zaslav said the combined services will be launched next summer, with a release planned for Latin America, Europe and other markets through 2024 as the company hopes to reach 130 million subscribers by 2025.
The new Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) service will include the full libraries of both streaming platforms and have ad free, ad-lite and a free-with-ads versions.
'With respect to streaming, our main priority right now is launching an integrated SVOD service,' Zaslav said during the call.
'Once our SVOD service is firmly established in the market, we see real potential and are exploring the opportunity for a fast or free ad-supported streaming offering that would give consumers who do not want to pay a subscription fee access to great library content, while at the same time serving as an entry point to our premium service.'
But as he touted the new services, which does not have a name yet, Zaslav remained quiet about the company's plan to find $3 billion savings that will result in layoffs.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, pictured, confirmed the merge of the HBO Max and Discovery+ services into one streaming platform next summer
HBO Max, which has 73.8 million subscribers, will see it's library merge with Discovery+
Warner Bros. executives did not say what the new streaming service would be named, but the new platform will have ad free, ad-lite and a free-with-ads versions
The melding of the two services, following the completion of Discovery's $43 billion acquisition of AT&T's WarnerMedia in a deal announced in May 2021, had long been anticipated.
The merger comes as a number of other cost-cutting measures appeared to be coming into force including a shock announcement of the scrapping of the $90 million DC Batgirl girl film.
Other signs of 'distress' have also occurred with the shuttering of productions and removing
