WBD Acquisition Thread

[GRPHX]

Speaking for my own country, Netflix and Netflix's biggest competitor in the market, HBO Max (formerly BluTV), will increase its overall market share to 65% together.

This means huge monopoly on that market.

But I'm not happy with HBO Max's prestige drama-heavy library. If there are more dubbed legacy-network WB Television series to come Netflix, I support it.

 

[harry580]

ok, I want to make it clear, hbo max is most likely going to be the streaming home for hbo shows, netflix will be home for Warner bros shows and shows that didnt fit well with hbo

 

[Insidus]

ok, I want to make it clear, hbo max is most likely going to be the streaming home for hbo shows, netflix will be home for Warner bros shows and shows that didnt fit well with hbo

I believe the two will coexist seeing as HBO Max is cheaper

 

[Daikun]

Trump has opted not to be involved.

 

[Moe]

Trump has opted not to be involved.

Smart move from 47th President.

Speaking for my own country, Netflix and Netflix's biggest competitor in the market, HBO Max (formerly BluTV), will increase its overall market share to 65% together.

This means huge monopoly on that market.

But I'm not happy with HBO Max's prestige drama-heavy library. If there are more dubbed legacy-network WB Television series to come Netflix, I support it.

Yeah, I can see about how big is monopoly in oversea market, ouch.

I would rather Netflix to keep HBO Max as separate service instead of absorb into Netflix like Amazon's approach with Prime streaming, MGM+ and ScreenPix. I do think oversea market deserve to have multiple streaming services to give more options for customers.

I despise the merger and acquisition, including Disney-20th Century and sadly, it is unavoidable because of streaming. I would love to see linear networks go back to glory like in 1990s.

Is it helpful if Netflix stopped use geo-blocking practice on customers and allow them to use Netflix in any countries?

 

[Insidus]

Trump has opted not to be involved.

Paramount is in trouble I guess

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Paramount is in trouble I guess

They can just grow themselves instead of having to buy WBD.

 

[Moe]

wait, I thought you support the merger because disney & 20th century are friends

No, I personally didn't but had no choice because of streaming and I know that Disney-20th Century would enable Paramount-WB, Paramount-Sony or Paramount-NBCUniversal and vice versa in the future as consequence - that is my major fear.

Before streaming, major studio-major studio M&A were unthinkable. Vertical M&A was more typical like Comcast-NBCUniversal and AT&T-WB. There were series of studio-studio M&A in the past like New Line Cinema, Lorimar, Cannon and others.

Disney wasn't nightmare because they lacked the major adult films, so Lucasfilm and Marvel alone won't help with long term plan, so it make looks like nuanced.

They can just grow themselves instead of having to buy WBD.

I know Paramount will be fine but it was Ellison failed it to make buying WBD as justifiable.

 

[lowell]

Smart move from 47th President.

I despise the merger and acquisition, including Disney-20th Century and sadly, it is unavoidable because of streaming. I would love to see linear networks go back to glory like in 1990s.

It's 50-50 that he could still flip-flop on this due to the precedent of running his stances back and forth in other topics.

He refers to Skydance & Netflix as opponents of an UFC match in the same article as well, lol:

"“They’re beating the hell out of each other — and there’ll be a winner.”"

Trump says he'll stay out of the Netflix-Paramount fight over Warner Bros.

The president's comments to NBC News were a reversal from his December statement that he would be involved in the approval process for Netflix’s deal.

www.nbcnews.com

Having networks and home videos remaining king forever requires taking a time machine, traveling back to the 1990s, but then also the prevention of technology evolving.

As the world changes around the innovation of technology, streaming was inevitable with Netflix's disruption of Hollywood.

No, I personally didn't but had no choice because of streaming and I know that Disney-20th Century would enable Paramount-WB, Paramount-Sony or Paramount-NBCUniversal and vice versa in the future as consequence - that is my major fear.

Before streaming, major studio-major studio M&A were unthinkable. Vertical M&A was more typical like Comcast-NBCUniversal and AT&T-WB. There were series of studio-studio M&A in the past like New Line Cinema, Lorimar, Cannon and others.

Disney wasn't nightmare because they lacked the major adult films, so Lucasfilm and Marvel alone won't help with long term plan, so it make looks like nuanced.

Yup, Disney knew it needed to have adult content to gain all kinds of audiences in streaming because that's what it lacked compared to Netflix, WarnerDiscovery, Paramount Global, Comcast, etc.

The Fox deal (including Hulu) was a strategic once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get caught up on the same footing with others.

Some, including a particular person, talked about how the closest thing Disney had to adult content was Touchstone but it had run its course by 2010 and essentially acted as live-action DreamWorks's distribution label until its end in 2016.

As they solely focused on finishing out the DreamWorks contract with DreamWorks then jumping to Universal, Touchstone wasn't ever going to consistently fill in Disney's adult content gaps that 20th Century, Searchlight, FX, National Geographic, Hulu actually had a reliable track record for.

People keep trying to push on Touchstone is just like expecting MGM to actually resurrect Cannon Films in the modern day, for example, and that's just an irrational argument being made here.

 

[Moe]

It's 50-50 that he could still flip-flop on this due to the precedent of running his stances back and forth in other topics.

He refers to Skydance & Netflix as opponents of an UFC match in the same article as well, lol:

"“They’re beating the hell out of each other — and there’ll be a winner.”"

Trump says he'll stay out of the Netflix-Paramount fight over Warner Bros.

The president's comments to NBC News were a reversal from his December statement that he would be involved in the approval process for Netflix’s deal.

www.nbcnews.com

Having networks and home videos remaining king forever requires taking a time machine, traveling back to the 1990s, but then also the prevention of technology evolving.

As the world changes around the innovation of technology, streaming was inevitable with Netflix's disruption of Hollywood.


Yup, Disney knew it needed to have adult content to gain all kinds of audiences in streaming because that's what it lacked compared to Netflix, WarnerDiscovery, Paramount Global, Comcast, etc.

The Fox deal (including Hulu) was a strategic once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get caught up on the same footing with others.

Some, including a particular person, talked about how the closest thing Disney had to adult content was Touchstone but it had run its course by 2010 and essentially acted as live-action DreamWorks's distribution label until its end in 2016.

As they solely focused on finishing out the DreamWorks contract with DreamWorks then jumping to Universal, Touchstone wasn't ever going to consistently fill in Disney's adult content gaps that 20th Century, Searchlight, FX, National Geographic, Hulu actually had a reliable track record for.

People keep trying to push on Touchstone is just like expecting MGM to actually resurrect Cannon Films in the modern day, for example, and that's just an irrational argument being made here.

I found out that 20th Century under Disney is very success and make a lot of money.

Sell 20th Century isn't going to happen and acquisition closed 7 years ago and it is heavily integrated with Disney for revenues.

I didn't like this acquisition and I don't support to split that would lead to uncertainty and damage to the brand.

 

[JulianRO]

Sell 20th Century isn't going to happen and acquisition closed 7 years ago and it is heavily integrated with Disney for revenues.

After they struggled to buy it, it won't happen, especially at how successful it is.

However, the buyer of WBD, Netflix in this case, must have a very well-prepared strategy, so that it won't happen to be sold by Netflix very quickly, in less that 3-4 years. This already happened with AT&T back in 2021, after they acquired WarnerMedia in 2018 after over a year and a half of struggling with the authorities.

Trump has opted not to be involved.

I would never trust what Trump says. The Ellisons and Trump have a pretty interesting connection with each other, so no.

 

[lowell]

I found out that 20th Century under Disney is very success and make a lot of money.

Sell 20th Century isn't going to happen and acquisition closed 7 years ago and it is heavily integrated with Disney for revenues.

I didn't like this acquisition and I don't support to split that would lead to uncertainty and damage to the brand.

Yeah, people might not agree on everything regarding it, but Disney is actually putting their money consistently in whatever's successful and 20th Century has done well for them in many aspects.

A lot of rejuvenation to the franchises that could've been underinvested under the Murdochs, who were already to cash out of Hollywood and saw Disney already being a fit caretaker.

Considering the Fox IPs are expanded into books, comics, games, merchandising more vibrantly by Disney, it wouldn't be far-fetched to see them utilized in the resorts like an Alien land in Shanghai's potential 2nd park due to Alien: Romulus's performance in China, for example.

After they struggled to buy it, it won't happen, especially at how successful it is.

However, the buyer of WBD, Netflix in this case, must have a very well-prepared strategy, so that it won't happen to be sold by Netflix very quickly, in less that 3-4 years. This already happened with AT&T back in 2021, after they acquired WarnerMedia in 2018 after over a year and a half of struggling with the authorities.

I would never trust what Trump says. The Ellisons and Trump have a pretty interesting connection with each other, so no.

As the Fox deal was half-cash, half-stock, Comcast, in the end, actually shelled out way more money than Disney: they paid Disney $15 billion for Fox's 39% stake in Sky, so in addition to paying $40 billion for the 61% stake of Sky, along with Sky's existing debt of $8.12 billion (£6.5 billion) so Comcast spent in the total of $63.12 billion in cash to acquire all of Sky.

There's an upside for WarnerDiscovery if the Netflix deal runs into a wall: Zaslav gets a $5.8 billion check from Netflix that would be used towards paying down the debt load.

Netflix could also technically do damage to Skydance in the regulatory delays by denying the opportunity for the Ellisons to pounce at WarnerDiscovery:

"Lee’s letter said he was concerned that the Warner-Netflix deal “could operate as a so-called ‘killer non-acquisition,’ effectively weakening a major competitor through the pendency of the merger review process.” The letter didn’t mention Netflix’s rival Paramount, which is seeking to thwart the proposed merger and buy Warner Discovery itself."

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/senate-antitrust-panel-chair-raises-concerns-over-netflix-warner-deal-495353a6

That's basically why they're okay with their breakup fee being almost $6B.

And for Trump's words, he has a knack for cycling up his takes with other topics so that's why it's a 50-50 chance he could easily flip-flop on this later on.

 

[JulianRO]

I still don't understand why Paramount fights so hard to buy WBD. Like after many times the counterbids were rejected, they still didn't stop.

It's not Paramount who decides this acquisition will get through, it's the authorities, so their arguments in trying to convince others that the transaction shouldn't be approved are pretty useless for me.

They could very simply come back with this bid, or maybe an even better one, in the case the transaction isn't approved. So they are pretty much wasting their time, in my opinion.

 

[lowell]

I still don't understand why Paramount fights so hard to buy WBD. Like after many times the counterbids were rejected, they still didn't stop.

It's not Paramount who decides this acquisition will get through, it's the authorities, so their arguments in trying to convince others that the transaction shouldn't be approved are pretty useless for me.

They could very simply come back with this bid, or maybe an even better one, in the case the transaction isn't approved. So they are pretty much wasting their time, in my opinion.

Well, Ellison's a Silicon Valley trust fund kid who has never taken "No" for an answer and that's how he was able to strongarm the financially conflicted Redstones into the Paramount Global sale.

He wants to spend his father's wealth (Oracle stock used as collateral for loans) as soon as possible to attain power and media control is that desired object.

That's also why the Ellisons are co-owners of TikTok US with the Murdochs and others as well.

 

[JulianRO]

Paramount Global was way less valuable than WBD, even its properties don't value as how WBD's ones do, but some exceptions exist, of course.

I feel that after if they will somehow be able to buy WBD, but I highly doubt so, they will do the same thing that happened with AT&T, just sell it or split it. Especially considering they already did some cuts on Paramount Skydance (channel closures, layoffs, other known people stopping to work with them, etc)

 

[themidnightlore]

Yeah, Paramount gets WBD... And then closes almost all the channels outside the States? Let's not forget that they went even more nuclear than Disney in their "We need to launch Disney+" period quite recently and closed countless channels.
You don't really want that.

(And then, there's all the political stuff amd what not)

 

[JulianRO]

I for one think that Netflix buying just the studios and the streaming part is what matters the most. Television nowadays isn't that attractive as it used to be long ago. However, WBD's streaming platforms, and specifically HBO Max went very downhill under Zaslav's leadership.

The biggest hope is for Netflix to start slowly repairing what was destroyed back then a.k.a bringing back the shows and movies that were removed from the platform.

Speaking of channels, Paramount acknowledged themselves not too long ago that the linear TV networks WBD has have zero value. Then why promote yourself that "they buy WBD entirely"?

As far as I remember, when the acquisition was first announced by Netflix two months ago, one article said they will be getting TCM, probably the only channel from WBD's side. Can't remember who did post it.

 

[themidnightlore]

Well... Netflix is getting only the American and Canadian TCM.
The Spanish TCM, the MENA TCM and TCM Cinéma in France would remain under WBD. And makes sense, the two of them have wildly different presentation sets, almost like if they're different channels with just the same name.

 

[JulianRO]

Ellison: I firmly believe uniting Paramount and WBD will build a true champion for the creative community - TVBEurope

Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison has written a letter to the UK's creative community setting out a number of key commitments should the company be able to wrestle WBD away from Netflix

www.tvbeurope.com

Of course, as I said above, Ellison won't stop.

 

[zakawer2]

Well... Netflix is getting only the American and Canadian TCM.
The Spanish TCM, the MENA TCM and TCM Cinéma in France would remain under WBD. And makes sense, the two of them have wildly different presentation sets, almost like if they're different channels with just the same name.

Are we even sure that TCM MENA still exists and hasn't been shut down? Because I'm pretty sure it already closed down.

The only TCM channels internationally that I know still exists are TCM Spain and TCM Cinéma.