Want more from Front Office Sports
in your search results?
The streaming wars are escalating, with sports standing as a key battleground.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports parent company Skydance said late Monday that it will offer a combined streaming bundle of Paramount+ and HBO Max in early 2027, a key first step toward a fully merged service first contemplated early this year.
“Bundling is our first step toward fully unifying the two services,” said Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison. “It lets us start capturing the consumer and monetization benefits of a fully unified product, and we believe consumers will be delighted by this. The bundle will deliver what we view as an unmatched offering of entertainment, news, and sports. … We really do expect to grow reach and engagement, improve retention, and increase revenue and profitability.”
The fully unified streaming service of Paramount+ and HBO Max is loosely targeted to debut “in about a year,” Skydance said. The streaming plans were a key element of the company’s first quarterly earnings report since last month’s closing of the landmark $110 billion merger between Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.
In its new structure, Skydance has a powerful combined portfolio of sports rights that includes the NFL, MLB, NHL, March Madness, the Masters, NASCAR, UFC, UEFA, and several major college sports conferences.
Nearly all of those live rights are already showcased in the separate streaming services and will be core in the merged setting. Skydance currently has about 203 million direct-to-consumer subscribers globally, led by Paramount+ and HBO Max, and is poised to be a streaming market force competing with industry titans such as Netflix and Disney. That subscriber figure, however, is not deduplicated.
Sports Considerations
Ellison, meanwhile, lauded the Skydance sports portfolio and its scale, but again said the company will be “disciplined” as it evaluates any future rights opportunities.
“Suffice it to say, we believe in sports, and we will continue to be a significant player in the space,” Ellison said. “As it relates to future rights, we will be disciplined, and every right has to earn its place. But we’re really happy with the portfolio that we have.”
Financial Results
Skydance said it generated $7.03 billion in revenue in the third quarter, up 5% from the combined results of the predecessor companies. Net earnings swung from a prior loss of $257 million to a gain of $73 million.
Despite the bullish quarterly results, Skydance is grappling with about $80 million of debt, and it recently saw its long-term debt downgraded from a BB+ rating to BB, indicating heightened financial risk.
Skydance is also targeting at least $6 billion in savings over the next three years, largely through layoffs that have already started, as well as by reducing corporate overhead and commercial real estate holdings and unifying its back-end technology. With that effort, Skydance is aiming to substantially reduce its net leverage ratio by 2029 and achieve “investment-grade credit metrics.”
“Audiences have more choices than ever, technology is reshaping how stories are made and experienced, and the competition for attention is relentless,” Skydance said Monday in a shareholder letter. “Legacy business models are being disrupted, and we see that as an opportunity.”
NFL viewership on CBS Sports, meanwhile, has increased 5% so far this season over what was a league-leading average audience in 2025.
Download the FOS App
The business of sports, in your pocket.
Scan the QR code to get the app now.
