Well Netflix have won the bid. Lets see what happens with the FTC/DOJ now regarding approval.
WB Discovery is continuing with its plans to spin off the TV assets into a separate company (commonly referred to as CrapCo) and will have about 18 months to complete that before this acquisition is expected to be completed.
HBO Max is the best streaming platform Iāve used so far. I assume Netflixā plans for HBO Max have not been made public yet?
HBO as a separate consumer product would almost certainly disappear (they already dropped max and went back to HBO), but as I suggested above it is likely that HBO as a brand would likely disappear as well.
Without the WB library and without the need for a separate service, what even is HBO as a business anymore? It only produced a small % of its content and while Disney/Pixar shows the model for what an HBO could still be moving forward if rolled into the Netflix service, they havenāt indicated much interest in that making HBO likely a soon to be dead brand
Thing is, HBO is loaded with quality content - Iād be extremely disappointed if it were to go away. I also use VPN to access its library in USA and itās even better. There are good shows, maybe even films, too, on Netflix but it doesnāt come even close to what HBO offers. In terms of quality content, I think only Apple TV comes close (though I got the impression that Apple TV is oriented towards creating original new content, rather than acquiring rights to stream relatively old stuff).
Right but the point is the library isnāt going away, it just becomes to property of Netflix.
Could it not be the ābrandā it uses when Netflix puts its shows on other services/ platforms?
Potentially but it produced only a small % of its own tv content and so even trying to stay as a going concern as an āarms dealerā it would be an unrecognizable business and almost certainly wouldnt be big enough to justify keeping on the execs who run it now.
But then there is also the issue that Netflix has always been against the idea of licencing its content to other services, which is what this model would entail. And so even if they we were kept alive as a small shop that independently produces HBO branded content for Netflix it would be as an entity so far removed from what made the HBO brand so meaningful that there is no reason to think that would continue to have value
Can you be certain it will remain that way? I wouldnāt have problems pivoting away from HBO Max in that case but my logic is that Netflix is full of reality shows and that crap (not that HBO doesnāt have them but Iād say there are considerably less of them there), so I donāt know if they would be interested in keeping that catalogue.
And there is also thisā¦
The WB was acquired by a PoS company whose backers had deep pockets and had the debt from the acquisition piled on to it. It was impossible for it to succeed to a level big enough to account for that debt load, one it had no part in accumulating, and so despite performing well the share price of its parent company didnt move much. Now the inevitable is happening and portions of the business are off to potentially be consigned to the bin. And the man who over saw all this is walking away with a pay off of over half a billion, while having spent the entire time being the best paid executive in hollywood.
It will certainly be interesting to see what changes are made. I would expect any transition to be gradual. Warner tried changing HBO Max to just Max a little while back but reverted when they realised the value in the HBO name.
From a UK perspective we donāt have HBO Max here, though there are plans for it to launch next year? They currently have tight links to Sky where you will find a lot of HBO content, presumably those deals are ending soon.
Paramount have reportedly launched a $108bn hostile bid for WB Discovery (just saw the headline from the FT).
While misleading people about the role of Arab State funds in their press release
I just noticed that Broadchurch has come back on US netflix. It disappeared from US tv right after I finished the original season so I decided to pick it back up and do the other seasons.
Fuck sake its a grim show. Not exactly the sort of Sunday evening viewing to get me ready for a working Monday.
Iām not sure if this should go on the TV or Film thread, but I saw this online which I thought was fun (at least for Sci-Fi fans):
I get a lot of the references (didnāt expect to see Claptrap here, though) but not all, unfortunately.
What a shambles
https://x.com/franklinleonard/status/1998878731633574398?s=20
Given the subject matter, I expect that they are waiting for a week when there hasnāt been a mass shooting incident in the US.
I dont think it was quite as good as the first season, but it is still delightful. Ted Danson and Mike Schurr is an amazing combination. Danson has absolutely nailed the āeveryoneās favourite grandpaā role with those t wo characters
Yeah, i totally agree. Enjoyed it but not as good as season 1. Ted Danson was excellent.
I know there is a comedy element to play on about how certain characters donāt like him, but I was struck by just how often he was treated by people in a really unnecessarily mean way and he never responded with anything but grace and a smile. It felt like they were trying to make a point beyond it just being a comedy bit. Like, in a world full of mean people you should try to be a Charles.
