Paramount Global and Comcast have had talks about combining their Paramount+ and Peacock streaming services, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The report, citing “people familiar with the situation,” said the media giants have discussed joining forces in streaming via a partnership or joint venture. Paramount and Comcast have declined to comment on the report.
The companies are already partners in SkyShowtime, the European streaming service launched in 2021 that serves markets where Peacock and Paramount+ are not yet available.
Paramount+, Paramount Global’s streaming flagship, had a global subscriber count of 63m as of last September. Comast’s service Peacock reported 31m subscribers at the end of last year. By comparison, Netflix had more than 260m subscribers at last count, Amazon’s Prime Video at least 200m (according to estimates), Disney+ more than 150m (including Disney+ Hotstar) and Max (when tallied with Discovery+ and other services) more than 95m.
The Journal report comes as Paramount Global continues to cut costs and be the focus of merger or acquisition speculation.
This week, the company told staff it was beginning a round of layoffs that is expected to reduce its workforce by as much as 3%, or 800 people. The first cuts, according to reports, have come at the conglomerate’s US television production units Paramount TV Studios and CBS Studios, CBS News and children’s streaming service Noggin, which is being shut down.
Parties currently considered to be possible bidders for all or part of Paramount include David Ellison’s Skydance Media and Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group.
Private equity company Apollo Global Management, which was also thought to be in the running, was reported this week to have ended its consideration of a move on the studio.
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