Predicting the future of the media industry is a dangerous game to play. Things can turn on a dime in this business, and until pen is put to paper, nothing is guaranteed. When two major media companies like Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merge, however, planning for the future becomes a necessity, even if things are hard to predict.

New reporting from Puck News has revealed details regarding Paramount’s plans for CBS Sports and TNT Sports once the two companies are combined. The resulting sports studio would command a huge inventory of major broadcast rights, and could see properties from both companies switch channels in the shuffle.

Puck reports that Paramount intends to merge CBS Sports and TNT Sports into a single entity by the third quarter of 2026 “if all goes according to plan.” The merger of Paramount and WBD may or may not face a difficult path to regulatory approval on the federal level, but several state attorneys general have come out as skeptical of the deal, and European regulators will also have something to say.

If CBS Sports and TNT Sports were able to merge by the end of Q3, however, the combined company would have the rights to NFL, NHL, and MLB regular season and playoff games, a ton of college football and basketball, including College Football Playoff games sublicensed from ESPN, UFC events, the French Open, coverage of The Masters, and more.

The transaction could lead to properties from TNT Sports airing on CBS Sports channels, perhaps as early as this fall, including MLB games, which could return to CBS for the first time in over 30 years. The Eye Network would make a ton of sense as a simulcast partner for MLB playoff games otherwise shown only on TBS, bringing broadcast exposure to the postseason contests.

It seems unlikely that many CBS Sports properties would move to TNT Sports platforms as a result of the merger, particularly the NFL. The league is already facing pressure to avoid putting too many games behind paywalls, and the NFL on CBS is a firmly established brand in the minds of fans. However, the addition of major cable networks to the CBS Sports fold could open up simulcast and alternate broadcast opportunities. Paramount has done things like that before, including kid-focused NFL broadcasts airing on Nickelodeon.

The merger of the two sports studios could be a major win for men’s college basketball fans. The annual NCAA Men’s March Madness Tournament has been shared CBS Sports and TNT Sports for years, with the Final Four and national championship game alternating between broadcasters. How much easier would it be for fans if every March Madness game were able to air on the same platform at the same time? Paramount+ and HBO Max could become the one-stop hubs for all games, with opportunities for Paramount to embed features like multiview to boost the viewer experience even further.

A merger of CBS Sports and TNT Sports would also present interesting possibilities in the college football realm. The two currently share Mountain West rights, so combining would collect more of that conference’s games under one banner; moving games from CBS Sports Network to TNT Sports platforms is a definite upgrade. I don’t know that fans should expect to see any CFP games from TNT Sports on the CBS broadcast channel any time soon; Disney — which holds exclusive rights to all CFP games, but sublicenses a selection of games to TNT Sports — may look heavily askance at the idea of putting those games on an over-the-air broadcast channel other than ABC.

In fact, it’s important to note that any shifting of live sports from TNT Sports to CBS Sports platforms would have to be permissible under the terms of contracts between WBD and Paramount and the respective leagues or conferences in question. Those deals may have clauses that dictate events are to be shown only on TNT Sports channels or streaming services, so while it’s fun to speculate, it’s too soon to tell if any major changes will take place. At the very least, it seems likely that Paramount will take a year to figure out if any properties should move at all, and how to optimize its audience.

One thing I’ll be keeping a close eye on is how Paramount opts to handle live sports on the HBO Max streaming service. Currently, HBO Max keeps live events from TNT Sports only on its ad-free tiers; ad-supported HBO Max customers cannot stream live sports with their subscription. Paramount+ also tiers its sports access, with a live stream of CBS appearing only on its ad-free Premium plan, but events like NFL games, UFC events, and UEFA Champions League matches are available to all subscribers.

Will the status quo be preserved once Paramount takes over? The company could also decide to move all sports properties from both CBS and TNT to a new streaming service specifically designed for sports fans, but that move would come at the risk of angering linear distribution partners who have already seen ESPN and Fox take their sports directly to consumers in the past year.

The possibilities are numerous for Paramount once it has control of both CBS Sports and TNT Sports, as it hopes to by the end of Q3. The combined entity would have access to a large quantity of high-quality events, and while some properties will probably shift from their current homes, fans probably have some time before they have to worry about keeping track of any changes.