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Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

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Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#271

Post by skywhopper »

CamouflagedKiwi wrote: post #257
afavour wrote: post #182

Any consolidation like this seems like a negative for consumers. But at least it wasn’t bought by Larry Ellison, as was considered very likely (assuming this merger gets approved, in the current administration you never know). From a Hacker News perspective, I wonder what this means for engineers working on HBO Max. Netflix says they’re keeping the company separate but surely you’d be looking to move them to Netflix…

I don't know. I never really had a sensible option to watch Game of Thrones legally, it's a little late for that now but presumably this would mean it's on Netflix which would be significantly better for me. (I guess useful for House of the Dragon now). I don't think I care much about the upcoming Harry Potter show but if I did want to watch that, I'm not sure what my options would be, and Netflix seems better than m…

lol at the idea that Netflix would ever produce something as high-quality as GoT or HotD. Those days will soon be over.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#272

Post by sbarre »

Arainach wrote: post #259
CamouflagedKiwi wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I never really had a sensible option to watch Game of Thrones legally, it's a little late for that now but presumably this would mean it's on Netflix which would be significantly better for me. (I guess useful for House of the Dragon now). I don't think I care much about the upcoming Harry Potter show but if I did want to watch that, I'm not sure what my options would be, and Netflix seems better than m…

Far better for consumers to be able to binge Game of Thrones/Silicon Valley/whatever and cancel HBO Max than to have to pay twice as much for a subscription to both libraries to get either.

Yeah until Netflix adds tiered pricing for content and you end up paying more than what Netflix + HBO Max together would have cost because Netflix is the only game in town for that content..

I think like all media consolidation this will send a lot of people back to the seven seas..

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#273

Post by fullstop »

n4r9 wrote: post #226
phartenfeller wrote: post #52

I don't like this. Netflix rarely creates excellent content; instead, it frequently produces mediocre or worse content. Will the same happen for Warner? Are cinemas now second behind streaming? Edit: I agree Netflix has good Originals. But most are from the early days when they favored quality over quantity. It is sad to see that they reversed that. They have much funding power and should give it to great art that re…

Lots of good lesser-known stuff on Netflix if you wade through the crap: * The Devil's Plan * Alice in Borderlands * Extraordinary Attorney Woo * Brassic * Back to Life * Intelligence * Black Doves * Top Boy * Mo * The Breakthrough * Borgen * Love Death & Robots * Scavenger's Reign As well as well-known stuff like Stranger Things and Squid Game as a sibling comment mentioned. [Edit: replies point out some of these ar…

> Scavenger's Reign

Oddly enough, this was originally an HBO Max production.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#275

Post by quasigod »

mattmanser wrote: post #198
phartenfeller wrote: post #52

I don't like this. Netflix rarely creates excellent content; instead, it frequently produces mediocre or worse content. Will the same happen for Warner? Are cinemas now second behind streaming? Edit: I agree Netflix has good Originals. But most are from the early days when they favored quality over quantity. It is sad to see that they reversed that. They have much funding power and should give it to great art that re…

Seriously? The Crown, Stranger Things, Unbelievable, Russian Doll (wow, just wow), Orange Is The New Black, Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, GLOW, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Ozark, Nobody Wants This, Altered Carbon, Dirk Gently, Mindhunters, The Queen's Gambit, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. And that's my taste, there's more not to my taste like Squid Game, Wednesday, Bri…

The majority of that list is quite old. Have you seen what they're doing now? Not saying every single thing they make anymore is bad, but the average quality is far lower than it used to be.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#276

Post by afavour »

skywhopper wrote: post #271
CamouflagedKiwi wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I never really had a sensible option to watch Game of Thrones legally, it's a little late for that now but presumably this would mean it's on Netflix which would be significantly better for me. (I guess useful for House of the Dragon now). I don't think I care much about the upcoming Harry Potter show but if I did want to watch that, I'm not sure what my options would be, and Netflix seems better than m…

lol at the idea that Netflix would ever produce something as high-quality as GoT or HotD. Those days will soon be over.

The Crown is absolutely a prestige TV show. Stranger Things is also high quality and high budget. You could probably include Bridgerton in there too, it's not my kind of show but I can still recognize that it's a well put together one.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#277

Post by fullstop »

mattmanser wrote: post #198
phartenfeller wrote: post #52

I don't like this. Netflix rarely creates excellent content; instead, it frequently produces mediocre or worse content. Will the same happen for Warner? Are cinemas now second behind streaming? Edit: I agree Netflix has good Originals. But most are from the early days when they favored quality over quantity. It is sad to see that they reversed that. They have much funding power and should give it to great art that re…

Seriously? The Crown, Stranger Things, Unbelievable, Russian Doll (wow, just wow), Orange Is The New Black, Narcos, Narcos: Mexico, GLOW, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Ozark, Nobody Wants This, Altered Carbon, Dirk Gently, Mindhunters, The Queen's Gambit, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. And that's my taste, there's more not to my taste like Squid Game, Wednesday, Bri…

The first season of Altered Carbon was great. It's a shame that they never made a second season. ;-)

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#278

Post by sbarre »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #213
dclowd9901 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're starting to up their quality. Frankenstein and Death by Lightning were two standout successes recently. That said, I'm more uncomfortable with the continued consolidation of media ownership and more outsize influence of FAANG tech over media.

Netflix has always had one or three stand-out projects over a year, but is that what we want from studios? It is like the tech model: 1 big success for 10+ duds (the VC show) or another superhero installment (the Google/Meta cash cow movie).

You're describing TV and movies since forever.

Ever year there are a few good shows and movies and a lot of mid-to-bad shows and movies.

This is not a Netflix thing, nor is it new.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#279

Post by mlinhares »

thechao wrote: post #236
JeremyNT wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it actually worse than the status quo though? I'm not so sure. I hate this era of consolidation but Warner and HBO have already degraded, so this may be the least bad outcome here.

I don't want you to think I'm picking on you; but, I've been thinking about the MBA-bullshittism "consolidation" for a while. It's really a euphemism for "trust formation", right? It seems like we fought tooth-and-nail just 100 years ago to set up real antitrust laws, with real teeth... and now every industry is "consolidated". What's going on in health and seed and cars makes me seethe.

The laws only exist if people are willing to apply them.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#280

Post by sparklingmango »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #184
phartenfeller wrote: post #52

I don't like this. Netflix rarely creates excellent content; instead, it frequently produces mediocre or worse content. Will the same happen for Warner? Are cinemas now second behind streaming? Edit: I agree Netflix has good Originals. But most are from the early days when they favored quality over quantity. It is sad to see that they reversed that. They have much funding power and should give it to great art that re…

They're starting to up their quality. Frankenstein and Death by Lightning were two standout successes recently. That said, I'm more uncomfortable with the continued consolidation of media ownership and more outsize influence of FAANG tech over media.

In parallel, they're also starting to downgrade their quality. In the latest season of Stranger Things there's a wild amount of in-scene exposition, where the characters explain what's happening while it's happening. I did some digging and learned that they may be dumbing down their shows because they know users typically look at their phones while watching Netflix and users are more likely to drop off of a show if they don't know what's going on.

See here: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jan/17/not-sec...

Edit: I did really enjoy Frankenstein.

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