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Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

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Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

House of Cards is the original Netflix Original, and it came out in 2013. Prime started competing with Netflix the same year. But the other platforms - Disney+ (2019), Apple TV (2016/2019), HBO Max (2020), Peacock (2020), Paramount+/CBS All Access (2021 / 2014) - are all later.

HBO has been around for way longer... HBO Go started in 2010.

> HBO has been around for way longer... HBO Go started in 2010.

Netflix started streaming on January 16, 2007.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#373

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…

It's probably a mixed bag.

On the one hand, competition good I guess?

On the other hand, if we're not going to have a music situation where the vast majority of mainstream content is available on most of the major platforms, fragmentation is pretty consumer unfriendly.

Netflix is pretty much a studio at this point. Not sure that back-end infrastructure or client apps is really a differentiator for anyone. An individual may find that one service is "better" in whatever respect but it's really about exclusive content.

As a consumer I certainly hope that this means there's one less streaming service to deal with (though I'm no longer an HBO subscriber at the moment) so long as pricing doesn't go up too much.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nothing that Amazon has produced comes even close to what HBO produced between 1995-2015. Netflix programming is cargo cult TV.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#376
I didn't really understand why they'd want this, but I think now its strategic protection from someone else consolidating with them. One company with that huge of a library could put a lot of pressure on them by withholding content and with their competing unified streaming service.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#377

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…

Here in the EU it’s great news if this means HBO contents are coming on Netflix. WBD has had so fare the absolute worse policy for international rights distribution for their shows, with policies varying wildly from season to season.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Like we had for music on the radio, compulsory licensing

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#379
post #352
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

They licensed Brassic, it was filmed for Sky One, not Netflix.

Same with Extraordinary Attorney Woo and a lot of "originals" on netflix. They'll just buy the rights to air something and then slap their name on it like they made it. That said, I actually appreciate them looking for good media produced overseas and buying up the rights to those shows to bring them to the US. It's a good thing (although it'd be nice if put some effort in making sure there are always quality subs) but it can cause some people to think netflix is producing more good shows than they actually are.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#380

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.)

> There is not enough consolidation

This is an absolutely wild (and incorrect) thing to assume. The problem of content lock-in is anti-competitive and it would be better solved without mergers

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