Netflix To Acquire Warner Brothers and HBO Max

[Palumboism]

After an intense bidding war, Netflix has emerged victorious and will begin negotiating to buy Warner Bros.

Paramount's bid was lower and they wanted the whole company including the cable networks.  Netflix just wants the movie studio, HBO Max, and HBO.

Negotiations are still going on, but Netflix is the only company Warner Brothers is negotiating with.


What's you opinion of this?  I personally would have rather seen Paramount or Comcast get them. 

[Brenda Steunbeer]

Netflix's monthly rates will definitely go up..

[Irongrip400]

Netflix's monthly rates will definitely go up..

Yeah but if I can cancel HBO does it become a wash?

[Flexacon]

Yeah but if I can cancel HBO does it become a wash?

You're assuming they'll add HBO content to Netflix and not keep it as a separate service.

[FitnessFrenzy]

The stock market does not like these purchases by Netflix.

[joswift]

where the fuck does all this money come from?


Billions of pounds spent on shite
Harry Fucking Potter, so now Netflix have the rights... anyone who watches Harry Potter likely have all the films downloaded already

Netflix takeover Warner for billions

[SF1900]

Why should I  care who acquires Warner brothers, as long as I still get my movies and shows.

[joswift]

[Palumboism]

Why should I  care who acquires Warner brothers, as long as I still get my movies and shows.

It actually can make a huge difference from a consumer stand point which company gets them. 

Each of the three companies would run Warner Brothers quite differently.  Even the bids were different.  Paramount wanted the whole company including the cable networks.  Netflix just wants the movie studio and streaming.  The outcome is quite different for consumers.  Sometime companies buy a competitor just to shut them down.

You like the Sopranos, what makes you think HBO will continue to make shows of that quality when owned by Netflix.  Netflix seems to be more concerned with quantity over quality.   

[Palumboism]

where the fuck does all this money come from?


Billions of pounds spent on shite
Harry Fucking Potter, so now Netflix have the rights... anyone who watches Harry Potter likely have all the films downloaded already

Netflix takeover Warner for billions

It's going to be one of the largest bond sales in history ($59 billion) and Netflix will have no trouble finding buyers.  Meta (Facebook) recently sold $30 billion in bonds and they sold out quickly.

[joswift]

2020 and 2021 the world was pretty much in lockdowns on and off for 2 years

Just Google movies and TV series made in these years, there are hundreds of thousands worldwide

TV didnt stop for covid

[SF1900]

It actually can make a huge difference from a consumer stand point which company gets them. 

Each of the three companies would run Warner Brothers quite differently.  Even the bids were different.  Paramount wanted the whole company including the cable networks.  Netflix just wants the movie studio and streaming.  The outcome is quite different for consumers.  Sometime companies buy a competitor just to shut them down.

You like the Sopranos, what makes you think HBO will continue to make shows of that quality when owned by Netflix.  Netflix seems to be more concerned with quantity over quality.

I can always find something to watch. I won’t lose sleep over any of it. Don’t matter to me.

[Flexacon]

where the fuck does all this money come from?


Billions of pounds spent on shite
Harry Fucking Potter, so now Netflix have the rights... anyone who watches Harry Potter likely have all the films downloaded already

Netflix takeover Warner for billions

HBO are already working on a new Harry Potter series which will cover everything in the books. So Netflix will probably get this.

[Flexacon]

Paramount is now reportedly looking to launch a hostile bid for Warner Bros

They feel their $30 a share all-cash offer is higher than what Netflix offered — in terms of cash, stock and the value of the cable business spinoff

https://x.com/CultureCrave/status/1997032362425925786


I would prefer the end up with Paramount

[Palumboism]

I can always find something to watch. I won’t lose sleep over any of it. Don’t matter to me.

I won't lose sleep over it either.

The history of the studios interests me.  Movies have always been an important art form in the American culture.  If a studio is bought by the wrong owner they can easily be destroyed.

Take the defunct studio RKO Pictures, which made Citizen Kane and It's a wonderful life.  RKO also showed all the Disney animated movies like Snow White and Pinocchio.  They were innovative and broke new ground.  Then, they were bought by the wrong owners and driven into the ground.  First by Howard Hughes and later the General Tire and Rubber Company.  Under different ownership could still be around and doing well.

I just wouldn't want to see Warner Brothers see the same fate as RKO.  There's really nothing left of RKO, but they were once part of the big five.  They were bigger than Columbia Pictures, Universal, and United Artists (the little three).  Which are all three still in existence.  Columbia is owned by Sony, Comcast owns Universal, and United Artists is owned by Amazon. 

There's something else you need to notice.  All the movies studios are now owned by large tech companies. 

Amazon owns MGM and United Artists

Netflix owns Warner Brothers

Oracle owns Paramount  (I say Oracle because it's David Ellison son of Larry Ellison)

Sony owns Columbia Pictures

Comcast owns Universal

Apple

Disney owns Twentieth Century  (Technical from an animation stand point - Pixar.)


You have people with a technical mindset running an artistic business.  I see culture problems down the road.  Imagine Microsoft buying Warner Brothers, that would be a recipe for disaster. 

[Irongrip400]

I won't lose sleep over it either.

The history of the studios interests me.  Movies have always been an important art form in the American culture.  If a studio is bought by the wrong owner they can easily be destroyed.

Take the defunct studio RKO Pictures, which made Citizen Kane and It's a wonderful life.  RKO also showed all the Disney animated movies like Snow White and Pinocchio.  They were innovative and broke new ground.  Then, they were bought by the wrong owners and driven into the ground.  First by Howard Hughes and later the General Tire and Rubber Company.  Under different ownership could still be around and doing well.

I just wouldn't want to see Warner Brothers see the same fate as RKO.  There's really nothing left of RKO, but they were once part of the big five.  They were bigger than Columbia Pictures, Universal, and United Artists (the little three).  Which are all three still in existence.  Columbia is owned by Sony, Comcast owns Universal, and United Artists is owned by Amazon. 

There's something else you need to notice.  All the movies studios are now owned by large tech companies. 

Amazon owns MGM and United Artists

Netflix owns Warner Brothers

Oracle owns Paramount  (I say Oracle because it's David Ellison son of Larry Ellison)

Sony owns Columbia Pictures

Comcast owns Universal

Apple

Disney owns Twentieth Century  (Technical from an animation stand point - Pixar.)


You have people with a technical mindset running an artistic business.  I see culture problems down the road.  Imagine Microsoft buying Warner Brothers, that would be a recipe for disaster.

RKO also did King Kong. Not sure why I wanted to interject but it was my favorite movie as a kid.

[Palumboism]

RKO also did King Kong. Not sure why I wanted to interject but it was my favorite movie as a kid.

Good point.

They also went to New York and recruited talent from Broadway.  Katherine Hepburn was recruited from Broadway.  They also gave Lucille Ball her first break. 

They started much later than the other studios and were an underdog.  They took risks on movies like King Kong and Citizen Kane that other studios wouldn't consider.  Orson Wells was a young unknown when he was given the opportunity to direct Citizen Kane.  No other studio would have given him the chance.


 

[BB]

I would prefer the end up with Paramount

I do to from an artistic prospective. Paramount has a harder edge to it, and historically is a better fit. Netflix is softer, a bit more dumbed down, and PC.

[Chidoman]

Netflix IMO is a woke machine, ready to shove down bullshit propaganda in every content produced. Watch all former WB Classics thrown inside a vault because of its Unwoke content and easily not making it available anymore. It's how Disney fucked everything up when they acquired FOX and the rest is History, same shit here. Get ready to get your Negro Harry Putter remake and more DEI bullshit shoved down our throats!

[Brenda Steunbeer]

Netflix IMO is a woke machine, ready to shove down bullshit propaganda in every content produced. Watch all former WB Classics thrown inside a vault because of its Unwoke content and easily not making it available anymore. It's how Disney fucked everything up when they acquired FOX and the rest is History, same shit here. Get ready to get your Negro Harry Putter remake and more DEI bullshit shoved down our throats!

Apart from the costs it's another reason not to pay for any subscription by such streaming companies. I don't even have a TV, but I guess I could watch streaming crap on a desktop or laptop. But luckily I have zero interest in TV or modern equivalents.

I can't understand sheep like consumers who immediately give in to threats by such companies. YouTube / Alphabet tries to force subscriptions down the throats of users. Same with the fear / crackdown of people using their friends' streaming subscriptions.
From what I hear there still are ways around those measures   

I'm used to free browsers, free email, free adblocks, and free VPN. And never see any horrible ads

[Palumboism]

James Cameron Takes Aim at Netflix, Says Takeover of Warner Bros. Would Be a ‘Disaster’

Elaina Patton
Mon, December 1, 2025

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” director James Cameron is weighing in on who should — and definitely shouldn’t — be the winning bidder in the highly publicized sale of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company currently has major offers on the table from Netflix, the newly merged Paramount Skydance, and Comcast. 
 
Last week, during an appearance on Matt Belloni’s podcast “The Town,” the “Titanic” filmmaker echoed many industry experts’ view that Paramount, now under the direction of David Ellison, should be the next owner of Warner Bros. But he went one step further, saying point-blank that Netflix taking over the studio “would be a disaster.”
 
“Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez,” Cameron said, referring to the CEO of the streaming giant. “Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’”
 
Cameron also criticized Sarandos’ publicly expressed belief that going to the theater to watch films is “an outmoded idea” for the majority of people — as well as Netflix’s habit of releasing its top-tier features, like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” and Jane Campion’s “Power of the Dog,” for very limited runs in order to qualify them for Oscars consideration.
[snip]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/james-cameron-takes-aim-netflix-210000969.html


I saw an interview with the head of a movie theater company where he said Netflix believe three weeks was long enough for exclusive theater run before they started streaming.  He declined to show their movie. 

[mphgrove]

Two cents: we can suppose the sound stages at Warner Brothers may be as busy as ever, it is a great lot, the surviving lot along with Universal and maybe Sony Culver City to some extent and Disney’s Fox studio location to some extent. But it will all be streaming content rather than movie theater content, i.e, series rather than features. So a huge impact on movie theaters and people who still like to go to the movie theaters, all of which is dying anyway. Production is moving away from LA to sound stages and locations around the world. Netflix being semi-based in LA and having such huge streaming and production clout could possibly help the LA movie economy somewhat with this consolidation, having such great sound stages and infrastructure to utilize.
 

[SF1900]

James Cameron Takes Aim at Netflix, Says Takeover of Warner Bros. Would Be a ‘Disaster’

Elaina Patton
Mon, December 1, 2025

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” director James Cameron is weighing in on who should — and definitely shouldn’t — be the winning bidder in the highly publicized sale of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company currently has major offers on the table from Netflix, the newly merged Paramount Skydance, and Comcast. 
 
Last week, during an appearance on Matt Belloni’s podcast “The Town,” the “Titanic” filmmaker echoed many industry experts’ view that Paramount, now under the direction of David Ellison, should be the next owner of Warner Bros. But he went one step further, saying point-blank that Netflix taking over the studio “would be a disaster.”
 
“Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez,” Cameron said, referring to the CEO of the streaming giant. “Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’”
 
Cameron also criticized Sarandos’ publicly expressed belief that going to the theater to watch films is “an outmoded idea” for the majority of people — as well as Netflix’s habit of releasing its top-tier features, like Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” and Jane Campion’s “Power of the Dog,” for very limited runs in order to qualify them for Oscars consideration.
[snip]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/movies/articles/james-cameron-takes-aim-netflix-210000969.html


I saw an interview with the head of a movie theater company where he said Netflix believe three weeks was long enough for exclusive theater run before they started streaming.  He declined to show their movie.

Good, going to the movie theatre suck anyway. Over priced tickets, expensive food, etc. I have zero problem with never going to the theater again and watching everything from home.

[Irongrip400]

I’d say that Netflix taking over could be bad, and that’s not just because they are a “woke machine”. Like Palumboism said, the wrong person at the helm could make this thing a disaster. Just look what bad ownership does to an NFL team. Although they have the safety net of revenue sharing to help offset bad business decisions. A movie company wouldn’t.

[joswift]

I’d say that Netflix taking over could be bad, and that’s not just because they are a “woke machine”. Like Palumboism said, the wrong person at the helm could make this thing a disaster. Just look what bad ownership does to an NFL team. Although they have the safety net of revenue sharing to help offset bad business decisions. A movie company wouldn’t.

Could you elaborate on what this "disaster" could look like?