Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#801

Post by dfee » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:24 PM UTC

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 was in Bend, Oregon last weekend at the last Blockbuster, and it was really appealing.

- blu ray rentals were 99¢ / wk

- a vast trove of content

- no lock-in or monthly fees

sure, you actually have to make it to the store... but, 2007 never looked better.

now, Netflix was distributing by mail, and i think the promise was for them to stream all their content into homes. but, then it got messy.

but yeah, for 99¢ / movie, I'm happy to pay. i'll even occasionally pay to rent through AppleTV.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#802

Post by assimpleaspossi » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:27 PM UTC

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…

I agree that separation of concerns might bring better content but I can't afford buying multiple services in hopes of catching what I want.

(Actually, I can afford it but I'm ... frugal.)

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#803

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:27 PM UTC

trunnell wrote: post #602

Commenters here seem to be missing the larger David vs. Goliath story... Netflix was a silicon valley start-up with a tech founder (Reed) who teamed up with an LA movie buff (Ted). They tried to solve a problem: it was too hard to watch movies at home, and Hollywood seemed to hate new tech. The movie industry titans alternated between fighting Netflix and making deals. They fought Netflix's ability to bulk purchase a…

It’s nice to see business that rewarded customers with convenience win in the end.

Well, except for Netflix refusing their catalogue to be indexed in the TV app on macOS and iOS. I won’t pay for Netflix until they drop that anti customer practice.

If you want me to buy the video content you’re selling, it better be searchable in the TV app. And if not, there should be a better reason than you want to keep people trapped in the Netflix app.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#804

Post by harmmonica » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:27 PM UTC

Couple of unrelated thoughts on this very long thread...

1. I'm sure multiple people have pointed it out, but for all the talk of a bubble, the AOL Time Warner merger was likely the biggest canary in the coal mine for what was to come. History repeats itself with literally the same brand and a lot of the same assets? Sort of depressing if the bubble does now burst because it's like we never learn our lesson

2. Trump wanted the Ellisons because they support him. There's almost no question in my mind the government will fight this. Will they win in court? Hard to say, but my quick thoughts:

If market cap was the basis for antitrust then the answer would be maybe, but that's not the basis for it. Is revenue the basis? No, but Disney generates more than Netflix, so does Comcast, so as a proxy for market share, which I think is somewhat the basis for antitrust (iamaal) it seems like there's no chance this creates some anticompetitive media juggernaut. But then the question is whether streaming is different than more general media. And if it is, how do you define the market when a company like Apple is involved in streaming but not fully a media company? Does that balance things out a bit? I don't think it does because I don't think anyone could claim that Apple counterbalances Netflix in streaming market share. If anything it would be a further argument against Netflix having Netflix and HBOMax.

Now having written all of that, I think the government would win because Paramount streaming with HBO would at least stand a chance in the streaming market against Netflix. And then also increase general media competition because you'd have Disney/ABC, Comcast/NBC, Paramount/CBS with the WBD addition improving Paramount's competitive position relative to the other two.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#805

Post by reincarnate0x14 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:28 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.)

I think it would be more accurate to say there was not enough cross-licensing. The generally preferable model seems to be service platforms that compete with each other, but with access to all the same production companies that also compete with each other. Vertical integration is an obvious win for the owners, but this fight has been going on since the earliest days of mass media with radio and motion picture studios.

Netflix was the early beneficiary of broad licensing because the draw bridges hadn't been pulled up yet.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#806

Post by cm2012 » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:28 PM UTC

burningChrome wrote: post #776

georgeecollins wrote: post #715

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also really doesn't do much (almost any?) charity so far in his life. And he never had to split assets in a divorce. So he's like a dung beetle of money.

This is completely misleading. Even a cursory google search will give a rather long list: - Giving Pledge: Ellison signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of his wealth to philanthropy. Recently, he announced plans to donate 95% of his $373 billion fortune, focusing on science, healthcare, climate change, and AI research. - Ellison Medical Foundation: Invested nearly $1 billion in biomedical resea…

Pledging and giving are not the same thing.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#807

Post by Frost1x » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:35 PM UTC

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.

Eh, I like an interesting spin on a classic. I’ve seen/heard the Frankenstein plot and small variations on it many times, taking a different direction is a good way to keep in a general universe but develop something new. If you’re not going to come up with new interesting content, at least don’t rehash the exact story I’ve heard many times. But that’s just my preference—I really enjoyed it and have become a fan of Guillermo del Toro works recently (due to exposure on Netflix). I’m not huge critic really so I won’t speak to artistic merit but I can at least say I really enjoyed it.

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#808

Post by sokoloff » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:35 PM UTC

nonethewiser wrote: post #780

thayne wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I want all the movies for free without pirating

How do movies get made under that system?

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#809

Post by garrickvanburen » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:38 PM UTC

On the news of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros, I’m reminded of how good Netflix has been at innovating their business model.

Over the past 27 years, their business model has changed multiple times and each evolution appears to be in direct response to the bottleneck of growth, from maintaining inventory of DVD to acquiring global streaming rights.

Year / Business Model / Bottleneck to Growth

1998 / Sell DVDs over the internet / Need to continually replenish DVD inventory,

1999-2006 / Rent DVDs over the internet / USPS delivery & return times

2007 / Stream movies over the internet / Acquiring US streaming rights to a massive library of movies

2009 / Start producing movies (Netflix Originals) / Number of subscribers watching Netflix Originals

2010-2012 / Global expansion; Canada, South America, Europe / Maintaining rights globally

2025 / Acquire Warner Bros Discovery

Re: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros

#810

Post by newsclues » Fri, Dec 05, 2025, 9:39 PM UTC

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 needs to be a real experience, beyond just expensive popcorn and other people on their phone.

The cinema experience lost its magic. If Netflix reimagined a new model of cinema, what would it look like?