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Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

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Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#361

Post by tim1994 »

nonethewiser wrote: post #315
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…

> Any consolidation like this seems like a negative for consumers This is a very common narrative to this news. But coming into this news, I think the most common narrative against streaming was essentially "There is not enough consolidation." People were happy when Netflix was the streaming service, but then everyone pulled their content and have their own (Disney, Paramount, etc.)

The problem is content exclusivity. It would be great if all the content or at least most would be available on all platforms. At least eventually. That would be great for consumers. Mergers like this typically not.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#362

Post by andsoitis »

ecshafer wrote: post #283
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no “monopoly” on either content distribution or creation. Amazon and Apple are both trillion dollar companies that have streaming services. Then there is Disney, Comcast (Peacock), Paramount, STARZ (standalone company), and AMC

IMO I think we are going to see Paramount, STARZ and AMC bought up soon. I don't think they can compete with Disney, Comcast or Netflix in size.

> IMO I think we are going to see Paramount, STARZ and AMC bought up soon.

You do know that David Ellison (Larry Ellison's son), through his Skydance Media, acquired Paramount Global (including its parent, National Amusements) in a merger completed in August 2025.

He also wanted Warner Brothers. I'm super glad that nepo baby isn't getting what he wants. He is using his daddy to talk to Trump to try stop it though: https://nypost.com/2025/12/04/media/paramount-skydances-davi...

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#363

Post by gdulli »

kmfrk wrote: post #107

Definitely the least bad outcome, but how much of this catalogue is going to completely drown in the horrid UI of Netflix's apps. Sometimes it feels like Netflix has too much in its catalogue without any good tools to sort through and filter it.

I doubt that's an accident. They don't want you discover content you like, they want you to watch what they've put on your home screen.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#364

Post by ayaros »

dzink wrote: post #286

In 2009 a Turner Broadcasting executive stood in front of employees and said they are not worried about Online streaming because it only covered 15 minutes of watching time among consumers. TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, HBO, Time Inc were all under the same ownership umbrella along with the entire MGM catalog Ted Turner had acquired at the cost of losing control of his company. There were executives who knew what they w…

Everything is now re-consolidated under different media companies now. Instead of Ted Turner we have Larry Ellison, and Netflix, and Disney.

So I think the biggest question is, what form of entertainment will eventually supplant streaming services? Whatever it is (or will be) will almost certainly be disregarded by most people.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#366

Post by andsoitis »

jmkd wrote: post #204
mihaic wrote: post #126

It's always great to read about how the people the own the means of distribution aquire also the means of production, trying to create a meta-monopoly. /sarcasm I'm rooting for someone on the regulary side disliking all the crap that Netflix produces, and just shuts the whole thing down. Those 5 billion they'd have to pay for a breakup fee in that case would have me feeling better that I couldn't cancel their service…

Netflix has had a large production studio outside Madrid for several years already.

> Netflix has had a large production studio outside Madrid for several years already.

One of several around the world. Albuquerque, Fort Monmouth (New Jersey), Shepperton (UK), etc.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#367

Post by degamad »

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.

If you want some considered thoughts on consolidation and antitrust implications, Cory Doctorow's writings are interesting. Some relevant examples:

"Hate the player AND the game (10 Sep 2025)" https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/10/say-their-names/#object-p...

"The one weird monopoly trick that gave us Walmart and Amazon and killed Main Street (14 Aug 2024)" https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/14/the-price-is-wright/#enfo...

"End of the line for Reaganomics (13 Aug 2021)" https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

"10 Oct 2022 Antitrust is – and always has been – about fairness" https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/10/play-fair/#bedoya

And his archives for more:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/monopoly/

https://pluralistic.net/tag/antitrust/

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#368

Post by Cthulhu_ »

fullstop wrote: post #277
mattmanser wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. ;-)

Man a second season would be so great. They could even recast the main character, given their personality lives in a brain disk. But I'd rather they didn't.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#370

Post by School-Cotton »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #330
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…

Just have one subscription at a time and then pirate the rest of it. They all had their chance. They blew it.

The comment you're replying to said "legally".
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