What does WarnerMedia-Discovery merger mean for HBO Max, Discovery+ and their many cable networks?

Vulture

Do HBO Max and Discovery+ continue as separate apps, get combined into something bigger — or both? Discovery CEO David Zaslav had no answer when asked by the media today. As Vulture's Josef Adalian notes, "while Warner-Discovery will be a monster under the hood, what is far less clear is whether there will eventually be one Netflix-size superapp housing all of the combined companies’ many assets. Disney, for example, could have decided to shut down Hulu and fold it into Disney+ after it won full control of the former following the Fox merger. Instead, it opted for a bundle approach, giving consumers the chance to pay one monthly fee for access to both apps (in addition to ESPN+). And yet internationally, Disney did just the opposite: Since Hulu doesn’t have a footprint outside the States, the Mouse House put all of its more adult-oriented programming under the brand name Star, and made it a separate section within Disney+ for consumers in parts of Europe and Asia." Adalian adds of the WarnerMedia and Discovery cable networks: "Beyond the human cost, the Warner-Discovery merger won’t necessarily change all that much about what consumers see in their cable packages. There is very little overlap between the Discovery and WarnerMedia cable brands. That said, TBS and TNT have — in addition to live sports — been doing a lot more unscripted of late as they cede scripted to HBO Max. Given Discovery’s massive success in that genre, I’m pretty sure its execs will take on a bigger role programming the current WarnerMedia-owned networks." ALSO: WarnerMedia-Discovery merger could change the sports streaming game.