Forget the $110B headline, here's the European story.
Three infographics that cut through the Wall Street noise and get to what the Paramount-WBD deal changes for streaming in Europe.
As I dug into HBO Max’s launch in 8 new European markets, it was hard not to see it as a masterclass in pure resilience. That still holds true today, with HBO Max about to complete its European rollout by launching in the UK and Ireland on 26 March.
Netflix backing out and Paramount Skydance stepping up to buy Warner Bros Discovery for around $110 billion does not change that resilience story (on the contrary given how similar these two companies are) but it does change what benefits come out of it. Unlike the Netflix scenario, where the upside was mostly about engagement, IP depth and pricing power on an already dominant platform, a Paramount–WBD combo is a survival move: two mid scale players trying to build a credible number three.
In the US, the deal narrative will obsess over domestic synergies, debt and global scale. In Europe, the questions are different: what happens to SkyShowtime, how much extra reach does HBO Max really unlock for Paramount+ and does stacking their sports portfolios on both sides of the Atlantic actually move the needle. To make this concrete, I have boiled the case down into three infographics and then unpack what each of them implies for Europe.
Today at a glance:
On The Media Odyssey Podcast, we thought we would cover earnings results from Paramount & WBD, then the news dropped about Netflix backing out and Paramount winning the bid. Half an hour became 50’ 😁👇🏻
What happens to SkyShowtime?
How far can HBO Max extend Paramount+ in Europe’s streaming wars?
Turning two sports portfolios into one year round destination
Coming up next: this piece is about footprint, subs and sports. The next one will go deeper into three additional areas: theatrical, advertising and linear TV.
What happens to SkyShowtime?
SkyShowtime, the 50/50 Paramount–Comcast JV operating in 22 European markets, generated €275M revenue and a €544M operating loss in 2024, bringing cumulative losses to about €1.3B since launch and serves around 6.2M subscribers according to Omdia estimates.
It runs on Comcast’s Peacock tech stack and combines Paramount, NBCUniversal and Sky content. The complication is obvious once Paramount absorbs WBD: the combined company would own HBO Max and half of SkyShowtime, two directly competing services in the exact same territories across the Nordics, CEE, Iberia and the Netherlands. That joint venture was built for a world in which Paramount and Comcast were non competing partners. Post merger, they are not. This boils down to four outcomes:
→ Paramount buys out Comcast and folds SkyShowtime into HBO Max
→ Comcast exits in exchange for long term content or tech leverage
→ The JV is dissolved and markets are split
→ Or regulators intervene and force remedies
The cleanest industrial outcome is consolidation. HBO Max is already live in all SkyShowtime markets, has global scale, brand equity and a deeper content engine.
Maintaining a loss making €275M revenue platform next to a 130M plus global service creates brand confusion and operational drag. Comcast’s posture matters too. Brian Roberts has been de risking in Europe, not expanding. Sky Deutschland was sold. Cable assets are being spun. Selling its stake in SkyShowtime fits that capital discipline far more than doubling down.
However, this is Europe. European Competition authorities will look closely at concentration in Poland, the Nordics and parts of CEE, where a combined HBO Max absorbing SkyShowtime and Paramount+ would materially increase premium SVOD density.
My base case remains that SkyShowtime does not survive as a standalone brand. HBO Max becomes the group platform across Europe.
