Paramount Skydance has finally completed its blockbuster takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, creating a new Hollywood entertainment and media giant.

The deal, worth $US110 billion ($158 billion) and brings together the studios behind Mission: Impossible, Harry Potter ‌and DC Studios alongside major television and streaming networks such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max.

The new entertainment behemoth, Skydance, is headed by CEO David Ellison, son for close Trump associate Larry Ellison.

This is how the merger could affect the media and entertainment industries, and more importantly, you.

Streaming prices

Warner Bros’ HBO Max is home House of the Dragon, Euphoria and eternal favourite The Sopranos, among others.

Paramount Skydance, meanwhile, owns Network 10 in Australia and Paramount+, which streams the likes of Yellowstone, Land Man and Mobland.

While combining HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform would will likely offer short-term savings, it could cost subscribers more over time.

The merged company carries a massive US$80 billion ($115 billion) in debt from the deal and consumers are expected to ultimately bear the cost.

Mike Proulx from research company Forrester, told the BBC that with Skydance saddled with massive debt, and streaming services constantly raising fees to increase profitability, price rises are likely.

Subscribers may gain access to a broader catalogue of shows and movies as as Paramount+ and HBO Max merge, Proulx warned that “it’s far-fetched to think it’ll prevent downstream price hikes”.

Ther Game of Thrones and Yellowstone universes under one roof. Photo: HBO/Paramount

Changes to news

Skydance brings two major US television news operations under a single corporate roof, the formerly Paramount owned CBS News and Warner’s global news brand CNN.

To head off concerns over journalistic independence at Warner’s CNN and Paramount’s CBS News, the merger creates a news editorial independence board that will be appointed directly by Paramount.

CNN is a tough critic of Donald Trump and was one of a handful of news organisations banned from the White House by the President. It has also been hit by leadership changes in recent months.

Ellison has asked CNN boss Mark Thompson – the former director general of the BBC – to remain at the helm post merger, while CBS News’s editor-in-chief Bari Weiss will remain in her role.

But despite assurances, staff fear the consolidation and the need to recoup debt will trigger significant job losses at both CNN and CBS.

Media advocates and legal experts also remain skeptical about whether the newsrooms can maintain editorial freedom.

Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, has described the Paramount-appointed editorial independence board as “worthless”.

“The board creates the same First Amendment problems it claims to solve, the government meddling in news,” Stern told the BBC.

More movies

As part of deal with the US states who initially objected to the merger, Skydance has agreed to release a set number of films every year for the next five years.

For deal will see 30 movies released annually for the first two years and 32 films each year for the subsequent three years.

The majority of the 156 movies must be “wide releases” and shown in cinemas. 

Skydance must also release at least four independent movies each year.

If the studios miss its movie quota, it Skydance maybe forced to sell its 49 per cent stake in Miramax.

However, once the five-year deal ends, Skydance could follow companies like Disney, Netflix and Apple by prioritising streaming over cinema.

Hollywood jobs 

The people responsible for making the movies and television shows fear the merger of two major Hollywood studios can only be a disaster.

Actors Bryan Cranston, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, Ben Stiller, and more than 1000 industry professionals signed an open letter in April warning that the merger would slash jobs, raise costs and limit creative options.

Actors and writers gathered at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles in September to oppose the deal, accusing regulators of failing to protect industry jobs.

Consultancy CVL Economics released a report for Los Angeles County estimating the merger could eliminate around 4500 film and TV jobs and causing US$1.26 billion ($1.8 billion) in lost wages over three years.