Bell Media says its Crave streaming service will remain home for HBO and HBO Max content in Canada “for the foreseeable future” as Paramount gets set to merge with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Announced last week, the $110B merger – announced following Netflix’s move to walk away from the months-long takeover battle – will result in the combined company owning a film library of more than 15,000 titles and thousands of hours of television programming, including franchises like Harry Potter, Mission Impossible, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Star Trek and SpongeBob SquarePants. It will also boast of portfolio of sports rights that spans the NFL, Olympics, UFC, PGA Tour, NHL, Big Ten and Big 12 Football, NCAA College Basketball, and Champions League.
Further details of the merger indicate Paramount and Warner Bros. plan to establish “a global streaming competitor,” combining Paramount+, HBO Max and Pluto into “a premier direct-to-consumer platform with enhanced reach, engagement, and monetization capabilities – positioning the combined company to increase competition while accelerating subscriber growth, deepening engagement, and driving significant long-term profitability.”
A Bell Media spokesperson told Broadcast Dialogue on Monday that its multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery remains in place.
“In addition to the best entertainment, news, and select sports storytelling in Canada, Crave remains home of HBO and HBO Max programming in Canada through a long-term deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for the foreseeable future,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
It’s unclear what future streaming and broadcast television realignments the merger could result in here in Canada.
Warner Bros. Discovery currently has a major licensing deal with Rogers Communications, home to its suite of English-language U.S. lifestyle and factual brands, as the exclusive Canadian content rights holder, distributor, and advertising representative for the Discovery brands in Canada, including the Discovery ID and Discovery TV channels, as well as making content from Cooking, OWN, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, and Discovery Science available on demand and via its Citytv+ streaming hub.
Corus Entertainment, meanwhile, has a partnership with Paramount-owned FAST (free ad-supported) streaming service Pluto TV in Canada, acting as its advertising representative on this side of the border.
Paramount will acquire 100% of Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 USD per share in cash, plus the “ticking fee,” valuing WBD at $81 billion in equity value and $110 billion in enterprise value. Paramount says it expects the acquisition to yield over $6 billion in synergies, driven by a combination of technology integration, corporate-wide efficiencies, including procurement savings, optimizing the combined real estate footprint, and streamlining operational efficiencies.
