It has been months in the making but Paramount Skydance has finally completed its $110bn (£82.8bn) merger with Warner Bros Discovery. The deal welds two legacy Hollywood powerhouses, uniting franchises like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, into an entertainment behemoth named Skydance. Yet behind this milestone lies strict rules about what the combined business can and cannot do - from how many films it must produce a year to the editorial independence of its newsroom.
Here are four ways this could affect you and the movies, TV and news you watch. Warner Bros owns HBO Max, home to The Sopranos, House of the Dragon and Euphoria among others. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance has Paramount+, which streams the likes of Yellowstone, Parks and Recreation and NCIS.
Combining HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform or bundle will likely squeeze subscribers' wallets over time. While existing subscribers to both might enjoy short-term savings, analysts expect overall prices to rise as the combined giant seeks profitability. The merged company, Skydance, carries a massive $80bn in debt from the deal, even as executives target $6bn in annual cost savings.
Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester Research, said viewers will undoubtedly get access to a bigger catalog. But he told the BBC: "There's no way that a combined Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming service won't end up costing more for those who subscribe to only one of the services." As part of a settlement deal with US states who had objected to the merger, Paramount Skydance has agreed to release a set number of films every year for the next five years. For the first two years, that's 30 movies annually, and for the remaining period it has to release 32 films each year.
That's 156 movies in total - and the majority have to be "wide releases," meaning they must to be shown in cinemas. The merged studio must also release at least four independent films each year. If Skydance misses its movie quota, it could be forced to sell its 49% stake in Miramax – the studio co-founded by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Breanne Gilliam, a corporate lawyer at Maddin Hauser, said the film commitment is meaningful, even if it comes with an expiration date. "Once those obligations expire, the company will have far more flexibility," she said. "Temporary rules cannot permanently fix a structural market shift".
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