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Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

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Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#501

Post by jimbokun »

ryandrake wrote: post #450
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.

Not attacking you in particular, but I've always hated how we talk about "licensing restrictions" as if they're some kind of vague law of nature, like gravity. Oh, Studio X can't do Y... Because Licensing. "Licenses" are entirely conjured up by humans, and if there was an actual desire by the people who make decisions to change something, those people would find a way to make the "licensing restrictions" disappear. R…

> Reality is, the people making these decisions don't want to change things, at least not enough to go through the effort of changing and renegotiating the licenses.

Which is a perfectly sensible reason for a business decision.

> "Well they don't because of 'licensing issues' with the source code." as if they were being stopped by a law of physics.

So laws should just be ignored? Issues created by human social constructs are very real.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#502

Post by otterley »

utucuro wrote: post #21
embedding-shape wrote: post #5

> Combination Will Offer More Choice and Greater Value for Consumers, Create More Opportunities for the Creative Community and Generate Shareholder Value No doubt about the last part, but how does merging two giants create "More Choice"? I know corporate double-speak is already out of control and I know they're writing whatever they can do avoid regulators who surely are looking into the acquisition, but surely these…

I guess you are in the US. For you, WB content was already available. But you see, they never bothered to make that content available for most of the rest of the world. Netflix, on the other hand, is available most anywhere. This is exactly what it says on the can - more choice and greater value for me.

Netflix acquiring WB’s content will not necessarily lead to all of it being available for streaming to you in any given country. Content licensing is complicated, to put it mildly.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#504

Post by mushufasa »

throwaway20222 wrote: post #445
taeric wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This particular one could be ok for them? A major cost for Netflix in the modern era is licensing contracts that never adjusted to the streaming world. As such, consumers may actually get access to some backlog of WB stuff that is otherwise not worth offering?

My guess is you are right for some properties that WB owns outright, but legacy IP that has rights shared, especially pre-streaming rights will still have a lot of barriers/untangling to do. I think Netflix is the most well run media company today by a mile, but also on the spectrum of quality/art -vs- straight money/tech domination they fall into the latter category, and they are the among the least friendly to crea…

In their books (e.g. "No Rules Rules" Netflix seems extremely attractive to creators because they pay top dollar, as a general policy, and have the internal decision-making processes that support making bold bets on art without committees that push "safer" creative choices.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#505

Post by Arkhaine_kupo »

josefresco wrote: post #395
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.

> Frankenstein and Death by Lightning were two standout successes recently. IMHO Frankenstein" was pretty terrible. The makeup was awful, the effects were cheap, the monster... wasn't a monster! The entire premise depends on him being a monster, not some sort of misunderstood, sympathetic EMO.

> The entire premise depends on him being a monster

Have you read the book? She emphasises how pretty all the body parts that Victor picked were.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#506

Post by alt227 »

vel0city wrote: post #416
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…

> The reality is that cable was a paid premium service, unlike broadcast TV, which was free and littered with ads. The reality is, most cable channels had ads from day one. Less ads than most broadcast stations (which made up most of the channels you had on cable at the start anyways) but still a lot of the first cable-only channels had ads from the start. WTBS had ads on cable in 1976. MSG/USA had ads on cable start…

I dont think I have ever seen a completely ad free cable channel?

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#507

Post by CSMastermind »

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'm almost back there at this point given how annoying streaming services are getting.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#508

Post by butlike »

School-Cotton wrote: post #370
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

It's legal until you get caught. Schrodinger's download.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#509

Post by alt227 »

sfifs wrote: post #503

Hopefully I'll finally get to see Chernobyl and Game of Thrones. It's virtually impossible outside of US or Europe to legally stream so many movies and series.

When you literally cant do something legally, theres always somewhere greyer/blacker to move to!

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#510

Post by dylan604 »

taeric wrote: post #481
throwaway20222 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is you are right for some properties that WB owns outright, but legacy IP that has rights shared, especially pre-streaming rights will still have a lot of barriers/untangling to do. I think Netflix is the most well run media company today by a mile, but also on the spectrum of quality/art -vs- straight money/tech domination they fall into the latter category, and they are the among the least friendly to crea…

Totally fair. The rights around a lot of media is a giant mess. Is why songs used on some movies are not the same as the ones that were used in theaters. And is just baffling for people from the outside to consider.

Equally if not more baffling is that songs used in one region for DVDs might not be the same as other regions because of the same licensing issues
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