Paramount+Peacock?
Jessica Toonkel &
Amol Sharma
Shot; chaser:
Paramount Global has held recent talks with Comcast about joining forces in streaming through a partnership or joint venture, among several potential strategic options the entertainment company is pursuing, said people familiar with the situation.
Paramount’s flagship service, Paramount+, is home to “Star Trek” programming, originals such as “1883” from superproducer Taylor Sheridan and simulcasts of CBS football games, while Comcast’s Peacock is known for live soccer and football, originals like “Poker Face,” and a deep library with shows such as “The Office.”
This would seem to be burying the lede. Forget Star Trek and Yellowstone and Poker Face and The Office, this deals reads as 100% an opportunistic discussion in the face of the Disney/Warner/Fox new sports tie-up. The two major sports players that not only weren't included in that new partnership, but apparently weren't even approached? Comcast's NBC and Paramount's CBS. Ouch.
These deal talks almost read like a threat: if you let that partnership happen, this one is going to happen, and the fear of consolidation and collusion (with regard to bidding on sports rights) will effectively be doubled. You hear that, DOJ. They most certainly do!
It's also just good negotiating leverage, Paramount is seemingly talking to everyone about a sale or partial sale. One of those that has been unlikely to bid? Comcast:
Some companies would have interest in acquiring certain pieces of Paramount, should it be broken up. Comcast has no plans to make major acquisitions now, the company’s CEO Brian Roberts told investors late last month.
And that's in part because there's no way regulators let the owner of NBC buy the owner of CBS (unless they spin one or both out of the deal, but then, we're starting to lose the point of such a deal). But if the above competitors can effectively team up, maybe Comcast would try anyway? At the very least, perhaps Comcast can take Paramount+ off their hands and merge it with Peacock. I'll leave it to your own imagination to come up with the branding permutations there!1
If you close your eyes, can't you almost see the iconic Paramount mountain with the less iconic but still fun Peacock colorful feathers behind it?
Ultimately, Paramount is in real trouble while Netflix is (once again) surging, taking over not only streaming, but effectively all of what was once cable. The music is almost over, the chairs now few and far between. Paramount clearly needs a deal and are undoubtedly hoping for a better one than the current offers. Comcast seems to be helping here, perhaps with a quiet agreement that will help them lift Peacock's plume.
Back to branding, we're a fan of that around these parts (always have been) mainly because all these streaming services make the tech companies look like poets:
This isn’t the first time that Comcast and Paramount have discussed teaming up on streaming offerings. The two companies discussed partnerships a few years ago and ended up launching a joint streaming service, called SkyShowtime, in several markets in Europe in 2021.
I was actually in favor of ViacomCBS renaming the company Paramount while calling the streaming service Showtime. They didn't do that, and now we have 'Paramount+ with Showtime', which is ridiculous. SkyShowtime is slightly better, I guess. It manages to be meaningless while also being too long. But at least alliteration, I guess? Anyway, at some point we're 100% getting: Paramount+ with Showtime and Peacock featuring CBS All Access with special guest NBC.
1 Hey you, yeah you, I see you up there. Nothing too inappropriate, please.