July 1 (Reuters) - Paramount Global ( PARAA ) is holding

talks with other media companies about merging its streaming

platform with another, CNBC reported on Monday, citing people

familiar with the matter.

Fears of market saturation have forced media companies to

bundle their streaming businesses and offer discounted rates to

lure customers who are wary of signing up and paying for

numerous individual services.

Media giant Paramount Global's ( PARAA ) leadership is in discussions

with other media and tech companies to determine a viable

structure where Paramount+ can be merged with another streaming

entity and potentially co-owned, the report said.

Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) is one of the companies that

has expressed an interest in a joint venture, merging its Max

and Paramount+, the report added.

Paramount and Warner declined to comment on the report.

Several media executives said privately they expect

Comcast's Peacock, Paramount+, Max and Walt Disney

to ultimately team up their programming within one

application to alleviate confusion and compete with streaming

leader Netflix, the report said.

It added that while a structure for a hypothetical joint

venture between Paramount and Warner has not been discussed in

detail, ownership likely would not be a 50-50 split given the

existing nature of the streaming assets and their finances.

Paramount's streaming service has more than 71 million

subscribers, far less than Netflix's 269.60 million and Warner's

99.6 million.

Last month, Reuters reported that Paramount co-CEO said the

company will focus on its new plan to transform its streaming

business, reduce costs and divest some assets to help pay down

debt, a day after controlling shareholder Shari Redstone opted

to end deal talks with Skydance Media for Paramount Global ( PARAA ).