Ted Sarandos famously used to say he wanted Netflix to become HBO before HBO could become Netflix. He must be a very proud papa today as Netflix announced that it would be buying Warner Bros. and HBO/HBO Max outright. The company, which has been paired with AT&T and then Discovery Networks over the past 20 years will now be housed within a similar operation.
While Netflix is not like Warner Bros as a studio and big screen entity, the company is a much better fit than a phone company or reality TV empire. HBO’s operations have mirrored Netflix for years as the age of streaming has developed much like Hastings stated.
As viewing habits changed following the rise of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, HBO transitioned from a prestigious appointment television channel to a prestige, buzzy on-demand service over the course of a decade. HBO still has traditional channels, but the audience no longer has to be in front of the TV at a given time or risk missing out on the zeitgeist. And while traditional live TV services, whether they be cable/satellite or streaming-based, still exist Netflix will have a major brand to leverage with carriers.
Netflix could also drop its own content onto HBO in the future. Libraries of older lesser lesser-known original movies and TV shows may well find a home and a new audience on the cable channel, and give them a chance to be discovered and appreciated by new eyes in the same way Netflix brought shows like “Friends” back to prominence for a new generation.
On the studio side, this will be a whole new ballgame for the big red machine. Netflix has, of course, produced movies and TV shows for years, with some movies even getting limited theatrical runs to try and work their way into Oscar consideration. But now it has real Hollywood cachet. My guess is that Netflix is not going to change the name of Warner Bros to Netflix Studios. The next chapter of the DC Universe (assuming the current one continues) will be a Netflix property. If the Harry Potter series comes to fruition, it will be right next to Stranger Things and The Umbrella Academy.
This is definitely the biggest merger in the short history of streaming. Time will tell if it will just be the next big miss for Warner Bros owners or if the legendary studio has finally found a partner that just gets them like the end of a rom-com.
