David Ellison isn’t planning for a Game of Thrones-style Red Wedding scenario at HBO.
On a call with analysts on the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery deal, the Par CEO was quizzed on his approach to the premium cable network, and was unequivocal in his response: “HBO should stay HBO.”
As he touted a merged studio of more than 15,000 films and TV shows, Ellison praised HBO Max Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content. Under his leadership, HBO has been a roll with the likes of The White Lotus, The Last of Us and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and Ellison expects this to continue in a Paramount environment.
“Casey and his team are doing an absolutely remarkable job at HBO and we do plan for that to be able to operate with independence, so that HBO can candidly do what it does incredibly well,” he said.
“Our viewpoint is HBO should stay HBO. They are a leader in the space and we just want them to continue doing more of it, but by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience.”
Ellison was then quizzed on his favorite HBO show. Wags among readers might have wondered if he might say Succession, but the answer was in Westeros. “I think it’s hard not to say Game of Thrones,” he responded.
Asked about the value Paramount ascribes to HBO, which is often considered the jewel in the WBD crown, Ellison took a broader view: “The combination of these two companies really puts us into position to be able to compete with all the leading players in the space,” he said.
“We basically have 15,000 films and thousands of television episodes – iconic portfolio franchises from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the DC Universe, Game of Thrones, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, Transformers, SpongeBob and Star Trek. [This] is incredibly powerful – the combined D2C platforms is basically 200 million subscribers at close. To contextualize that’s roughly the size of Disney.”
Ellison confirmed he would look to merger the HBO Max and Paramount+ platforms following closure of the deal.
Last week, Paramount’s relentless hunt of WBD ended in success after its $31 a share offer was accepted, upending Netflix’s deal.
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