Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

about.netflix.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

531–540 of 1001 posts

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#531

Post by butlike »

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.

Personally, I didn't like it that much. Super long, droll, the casting was misstepped, and they changed the ending.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#532

Post by Velofellow »

sethops1 wrote: post #188
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…

Surely the move now would be to rename the app to Netlfix Max

HuFlixPrime was my portmanteau of choice in 2010-ish but mainly because I felt the coming dawn of cable company style pricing encroaching; more and more folks adding multiple streaming services to get close to what cable packages could offer.

I still like the name.

Edit: didn't Netflix have a feature called "Netflix Max" on the PS3 app? I remember it really liking it to find what to watch.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#533

Post by slumberlust »

jmkd wrote: post #119
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…

Cinema is indeed second behind streaming. The theatrical window is now so short (~40) days that audiences are happy to wait for the increased benefits and reduced cost of watching at home.

Good. Movie theaters have been anti-consumer for decades. Time for them to reap what they sowed.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#534

Post by jajuuka »

thayne wrote: post #514
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.)

I want a separation between the streaming platform companies and the content making companies, so that the streaming companies can compete on making a better platform/service and the content companies compete on making better content. I don't want one company that owns everything, I want several companies that are able to license whatever content they want. And ideally the customer can choose between a subscription t…

This would be ideal. The cable model was inherently flawed; it was just a series of local monopolies that poisoned it. Give consumers a choice. But considering everyone operates like Disney anymore and is highly protective of its IP I doubt this world will ever exist without direct government intervention.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#535

Post by alt227 »

meffmadd wrote: post #115
mrud wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is on Netflix not Apple. They enabled it this by accident and reverted it back https://www.theverge.com/news/613307/netflix-apple-tv-app-su...

Wow that is quite anti-consumer! Surely a monopoly on streaming will help them realize this. /s

I dont think its anti consumer, just anti competitive. Why would you allow a direct competitior to show your content on their branded devices and interface to help them become a one stop shop for all streaming services?

Apple should not be allowed to become a streaming front for all other companies.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#536

Post by xhkkffbf »

dizhn wrote: post #101
pcurve wrote: post #14

Not sure how many of you have WBD shares with its rather tumultuous past (spin off from ATT, the Bill Hwang mess), but if you've picked up shares on the cheap in the past few years sub $10, congratulations. "Under the terms of the agreement, each WBD shareholder will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.501 in shares of Netflix common stock for each share of WBD common stock outstanding at the closing of the transaction. "

That's $4.50 superscript 1

I thought someone really had to break some threshold so they wouldn't close the deal unless they got another .001. Like maybe some bonus depended upon some target value.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#537

Post by jimbokun »

paxys wrote: post #225
I-M-S wrote: post #54

“The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.” - Ted Sarandos in 2013 Seems Netflix won that race.

Thing is that Netflix didn't really succeed at that goal. HBO was and still is the gold standard for premium cable content. Netflix instead decided to go for the bottom 70% of the market, and the quality of their shows reflects that. In fact the very reason for this purchase is that they desperately need help on the creative side. Netflix is what it is today because all the studios trying to compete with their tech w…

I'm not sure how you quantify "premium cable content" but Netflix has certainly made great strides in that market.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#538

Post by alt227 »

ezfe wrote: post #42
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #32

I hope that this means that the Netflix app on AppleTV will finally become a “first class citizen.” The Netflix app has always been treated badly by Apple. No idea why, but it means that I can’t have Netflix content in the “What’s Next” queue (among other things, like Netflix actors’ work not showing up in show information).

Oh you think Apple is treating Netflix bad? No no no. Netflix refuses to play game, because they want to keep their data to themselves. Apple would LOVE Netflix to integrate into the app.

And quite rightly so. Why would Netflix let Apple list all their content in an Apple branded interface as if it were their own?

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#539

Post by butlike »

emmp wrote: post #287
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it frequently produces mediocre or worse content. Will the same happen for Warner? HBO hasn't produced good content in years at this point. Since before the last season or two of Game of Thrones, I should think. The other brands in Warner didn't even really have that much prestige.

Succession, Hacks, The Last of Us, White Lotus and Euphoria have all been recent buzzy TV hits for HBO post Game of Thrones

I don't like they buried their own show, Westworld, to fuck the actors on residuals

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#540

Post by beambot »

bko wrote: post #518
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…

Why is this a negative for consumers? Doesn't everyone complain how they have to subscribe to 5 different streaming services, and plenty of people have to pay for a service just to enjoy one or two series? I don't think consolidation is necessarily bad. It makes sense from a cost perspective too. I guess they could just license out the content, but this will probably grow the catalog a lot.

Consolidation means that incumbents rely on fickle intrinsic motivation rather than competitive pressure to keep quality high and prices low. All too often, monopolies or oligopies become complacent and merely "extract rents".
Post reply on HN