Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#451

Post by oblio » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:50 PM UTC

ekropotin wrote: post #421

meowface wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there are licensing restrictions or other things that prevent it, but wouldn't it make more sense to combine HBO Max and Netflix into a single app? Or at least make all HBO Max content also available in Netflix (and then eventually sunset HBO Max). That would make a Netflix subscription a much more compelling purchase for a ton of people.

That would be amazing if we could watch both Netflix and HBO Max content at the price of one subscription. At least for me, these two platforms covers 95% of my video content needs.

> Netflix and HBO Max content at the price of one subscription

Yes, the price of one subscription. I think some cable packages in the US are $200 per month?

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#452

Post by jasonvorhe » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:50 PM UTC

wombat-man wrote: post #433

jasonvorhe wrote: post #341

I cancelled all my content subscriptions and I'm back to torrenting. I barely watch anything made my Netflix regardless. I think either Dark or the 3rd season of Stranger Things was the last time. Snyder's SciFi movie wasn't much good either. By now the streaming services are en route to become as terrible as whatever they were set out to replace. Once one of them started heavily advertising their own productions eve…

I torrent too, but I think it makes sense to buy/rent or sub to a service in many cases. Companies look at views and revenue to decide what content to actually make. So, especially for ongoing series that I'm enjoying I want them to keep renewing it. I subscribe to ad-free versions of services so I don't really run into ads a lot unless I'm trying to watch something live on TV.

Irrelevant to me. The amount of TV shows I enjoyed that got canned after S01 has burnt me so much that I wait until I know if there's a sensible finale at the end or if it ends on a cliffhanger that'll never be resolved before I even dive into a new show.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#453

Post by philipallstar » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

MangoToupe wrote: post #426

nonethewiser wrote: post #315

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.)

As a rule of thumb, consolidation is never good. There are exceptions where consolidated services can improve (eg arguably physical infrastructure, healthcare), but in general this will not benefit the consumer.

As a rule of thumb maybe, but in this case it might well.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#454

Post by alt227 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

smallerfish wrote: post #449

I'm a fan. Injecting a huge catalog into Netflix is a win for consumers who want just one subscription. And injecting studio talent into Netflix (assuming the merge gives WB creatives influence) can only help. HBO's tech sucks. Apple is (in my experience) hard to get running in the Android ecosystem. Most of the other options are too narrow in catalog, or ad ridden. Consolidating streaming services down to a handful…

Netflix have never been a streaming service to put loads of good content on their service and keep it there. I would imagine they will use this injection of content to drip feed and slowly rotate movie franchises in order to keep users interested.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#455

Post by Flatcircle » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

Nearly every media journalist in Hollywood considers this to be the worst outcome for Hollywood.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#456

Post by Yokolos » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

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 assumption back then was that other companies would be making shows. Consolidating even more show production in one company is not something we should want.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#457

Post by geeksworld » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:51 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#458

Post by softwaredoug » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:53 PM UTC

ayaros wrote: post #364

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.

Youtube, TikTok, Sora...

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#459

Post by observationist » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:54 PM UTC

pragma_x wrote: post #402

ComputerGuru wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might make less money with one super subscription than two separate ones.

Everything about these big moves in the streaming space is basically to re-create the "good old days" of cable subscriptions and pay-per-view. I think we can expect HBO streaming to continue as a premium subscription for movies and high-production-value shows. That would let everything else to land on Netflix with no conflict.

Pirate everything.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#460

Post by alt227 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 3:54 PM UTC

neko_ranger wrote: post #399

drexlspivey wrote: post #97

Consolidations like this were bound to happen. In the mid 2010s we had a good thing, only one streaming platform with pretty much every movie and tv show. Then every studio got greedy and spawned their own platform, forcing netflix to produce their own shows. Now you have 20 tv networks all with their own subscription and all losing money.

>only one streaming platform with pretty much every movie and tv show doesn't this move reduce the number of streaming services by one? we'll see how the details turn out, but if I was paying for netflix and hbo max, now I only need to pay for netflix

Yes but it doesnt increase the amount of shows or movies on any of them. This new amount of content will just feed into the rotating library, not create one big library of content always available. So in fact you are loosing providers and loosing content at the same time, yet prices will still keep going up...