Smaller Streaming Services Could Be Considering A Merger

When it comes to video streaming, it’s hard to beat Netflix which boasts over 200 million subscribers. Disney+ is also catching up at an impressive 95 million subscribers despite being late to the party. However, the problem with these services is that there are too many of them and it would not be realistic to expect people to subscribe to all of them.

So what are some of them planning to do? According to a report from The Information (paywall), it appears that some of the smaller streaming services could be considering merging with each other to create a bundle that would allow subscribers access to all their content, kind of like how Disney has a bundle that includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu that is cheaper than subscribing to them individually.

The report claims that NBCUniversal, who recently launched its Peacock service, had pitched the idea to ViacomCBS to include Peacock with CBS All Access at a discounted rate. The report also claims that NBCUniversal’s chief Jeff Shell suggested that they would need to merge with WarnerMedia to remain competitive.

It could be an interesting strategy if true as it would encourage more people to sign up for those services if it was more affordable as a bundle. A few years ago, there was actually a study that suggested that the rise in the number of streaming services could actually increase piracy because like we said at the start, it would not be realistic to expect consumers to pay for all the services out there to watch the shows they want to watch.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General, Rumors
Tags: Entertainment, Movies, Social Hit