The Netflix-ification of Hollywood — What’s the worst that could happen?

Just now someone offhandedly shared her weekend plan to binge The Chair Company on Netflix It s a terrific show I reported her before gently making her aware that the show is streaming on HBO Max not Netflix I offered that information with an apology since nobody wants to come off as a know-it-all however matching shows with the right streaming amenity is part of a TV critic s job these days Fortunately my colleague wasn t annoyed by my unsolicited correction It s all Netflix to me she noted If several consumers are reacting more nonchalantly to Netflix s planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery s studio and streaming businesses than Hollywood s creatives and media insiders that conversation may explain why From the industry s perspective Netflix s in recent weeks disclosed billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery s studio and streaming function is a massive upheaval certain to aftermath in job losses at every level Hollywood is still recovering from the pandemic the dual guild strikes that brought the town to a standstill in the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles earlier this year and the Paramount Skydance merger Multiplexes continue to struggle as audiences remain camped out in their living rooms and theater-to-streaming windows narrow Throw in Donald Trump s hobby of strong-arming networks and studios to do his bidding and all in all it s a frightening time to have a career tied to America s dream factory Related There s more film and television for you to watch than ever before good luck finding it What terrifies me and should terrify anyone who cares about a free society is how this administration has used anticipated mergers as tools of political pressure and censorship Jane Fonda expressed in an open letter published by The Ankler Later she adds This is not how media companies behave in a healthy democracy It s what political leverage over media companies looks like and it s right out of the authoritarian playbook Sen Elizabeth Warren D-Mass also condemned Netflix s proposed purchase declaring on X that the merger would create a massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming area It could force you into higher prices fewer choices over what and how you watch and may put American workers at pitfall If Netflix is putting its substantial financial information behind maintaining one of Hollywood s largest part venerated legacy brands how is that a bad thing Netflix s WBD takeover bid has shaken top industry players to a degree that an anonymous group of concerned feature film producers emailed members of Congress expressing their concern that the streamer would destroy the theatrical marketplace Variety reports All legitimate fears But from a consumer perspective if it s all Netflix like my friend casually suggests then what would be so terrible about HBO s icons like The Wire The Sopranos Event of Thrones and the studio that brought us Barbie being housed under one big red tu-dum umbrella And if Netflix is putting its substantial financial tools behind maintaining one of Hollywood s preponderance venerated legacy brands how is that a bad thing It s a lot to take in and with Paramount Skydance escalating the tension by showing up with a hostile takeover bid on Monday the only certainty is that no one knows how this movie ends But I m going to do my level best to break down what it could mean to the average viewer Anthony Neste Getty Images Tony Sirico Steven Van Zandt James Gandolfini Michael Imperioli Vincent Pastore in a publicity still for TV series The Sopranos circa Previously on the Warner Bros Discovery drama Although corporations devour each other all the time without the average person noticing the difference one reason Netflix s bid to purchase WBD is drawing more attention than usual is the distress produced by Warner Bros contemporary merger with Discovery in yielding the Monstro Elisasue in the present known as Warner Bros Discovery Under its CEO David Zaslav the current chapter of the century-old story that began with Warner Bros founding in has been just shy of disastrous from a PR point of view Zaslav slashed the studio s workforce and eliminated countless TV titles and films to claim tax write-downs in the name of savings while still landing among America s majority overpaid executives Zaslav helmed such notable hits as hiring former CNN chief Chris Licht to oversee a short but hilariously disastrous tour with the cable news setup A highlight included the Hindenburg-level fiasco of a Trump town hall stacked with braying MAGA acolytes Then again if Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison a Trump ally succeeds in persuading WBD shareholders to accept his billion all-cash bid we may all see Licht s CNN misfires as equivalent in harm as a clown slipping on a banana peel What s at stake Netflix s offer covers the acquisition of WBD s studio properties and HBO Max leaving the company s linear cable channels to be folded into a separate company Paramount s takeover offer covers everything Bettmann Getty Images Ann Blyth and Joan Crawford in the Warner Brothers drama Mildred Pierce What will Netflix get in this deal As strong as the Netflix brand is it doesn t have a standing studio presence on par with that of Warner Bros nor a library of marquee franchises with generational appeal equal to the studio s library By acquiring WBD Netflix would take control of J K Rowling s Wizarding World franchise The Matrix cosmos and the DC Universe along with a century s worth of cinematic jewels including Casablanca Mildred Pierce Chariots of Fire and a slew of other classics It also gets the company s video encounter publisher WB Games DC Comics and WBD s theme park properties in the bargain but those pose different challenges What might a Netflix purchase mean for the future of HBO and HBO Max Anytime industry behemoths consolidate it should set off alarms Folding WBD into Netflix will almost certainly lead to a contraction of content diversity But the prospect of HBO s hitmakers answering to Netflix has spun up exaggerated visions of TV s premiere premium cable brand being diminished by the content factory responsible for Love Is Blind and Is It Cake Netflix s challenge will be figuring out what Zaslav couldn t once Warner Bros absorbed Discovery which is how to best showcase HBO s distinct offerings As various veteran analysts point out Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has long aspired to make Netflix s top-tier dramas and comedies a creative match for HBO s Indeed among the Golden Globe nominees declared on Monday HBO Max s The Pitt and HBO s The White Lotus will compete against Netflix s The Diplomat in the best drama category with Hacks HBO Max facing off with Nobody Wants This Netflix in the best comedy race HBO doesn t even show up in the best limited series category while Netflix s Adolescence Black Mirror and The Beast In Me occupy three of its five slots Point being Netflix has pretty much reached Sarandos stated goal to become HBO faster than HBO can become us His admiration for HBO is well-established and it would be an unwise business strategy to kill or diminish prestige TV s standard bearer after acquiring it Instead Netflix s challenge will be figuring out what Zaslav couldn t once Warner Bros absorbed Discovery which is how to best showcase HBO s distinct offerings We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in the modern day to assistance Salon s progressive journalism What about theatrical releases That is indeed the multibillion-dollar question In the past Sarandos has opined with a c est la guerre shrug that the rise of streaming has shifted movie consumption out of theaters and into living rooms Trends back that up Theatrical attendance was already in decline before the pandemic accelerated that nosedive Directors producers and owners of theater chains fear that Netflix s WBD takeover can only be further deleterious to the box office ecosystem Since the deal was communicated though Sarandos pledged that his company would maintain Warner Bros release schedule for the time being emphasis on that last part Netflix is a tech company at heart All it takes for such pledges to vanish is a meager miserable quarterly earnings reports Insiders are mainly concerned about the further narrowing of the window between a movie s theatrical exclusivity and its arrival on digital which again is not unfounded Jessica Miglio Warner Bros Pictures Nicholas Hoult and David Corenswet in Superman That declared no executive with half a brain would toss out a reliable global revenue stream Netflix is available in a lot of countries but theaters persist in several more places And the international revenue for releases like A Minecraft Movie and Superman is still very healthy Additionally Netflix has demonstrated the value of granting its preponderance prestigious titles a theatrical release prior to streaming along with building on unexpected hits like KPop Demon Hunters by granting them theatrical runs after their productive streaming debuts One imagines that if a phenomenon equivalent to that movie or Sinners were to manifest under Netflix it would extend their box office footprint accordingly Then again auspicious deals like the one Sinners auteur Ryan Coogler secured under the old Warner Bros may be less attainable under this new regime Want more from lifestyle than just the latest trend The Swell highlights art made to last Sign up here OK so what happens to say TNT CNN Discovery and the other cable networks Netflix isn t acquiring The linear cable channels Netflix isn t buying will be spun into a separate entity to be run by WBD chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels much in the way NBCUniversal spun off USA Grid MS NOW formerly MSNBC Syfy E and its other cable channels into a venture known as Versant That means that for now CNN staffers can breathe a sigh of relief at knowing they won t face having to record to conservative darling Bari Weiss who is on her way to ruining CBS News But that could still happen if Ellison s takeover bid succeeds Even if it doesn t there s nothing to prevent Paramount Skydance or other smaller media entities including the likes of Sinclair from making a run at buying those networks CNN could very well find itself caught between specific unknown devil and Ellison s deep pockets and either could be terrible for democracy Is there a bright side to any of this Yes Despite Sarandos expressed confidence that this deal will finalize smoothly HBO Max is the third-largest streamer thus Netflix s proposed absorption of the amenity will certainly come under heavy antitrust scrutiny from the Federal Arrangement Commission or the Department of Justice Since Trump rarely passes up the chance to insert himself into Hollywood-related drama we should take seriously his intention to involve himself in the proceedings Now that Paramount Skydance has leapt into the fray it s tough to predict whether Sarandos declared timeframe to close the deal within to months is realistic Trump s coziness with Ellison is expected to influence regulators determinations as to whether Netflix s move violates antitrust law And since Ellison has taken his bid directly to WBD shareholders offering cash versus Netflix s cash-and-shares deal for all of Warner Bros Discovery including its cable channels the details and ramifications of this proposed merger could change entirely within days Then there are European regulators to consider since their approval is also required before the purchase can be finalized So cheer up everyone it might not happen And no matter how it all shakes out it s inevitable that multiple people will continue to see everything as Netflix although navigating all that content may not necessarily be a piece of cake Read more about Hollywood s industry upheavals The big-screen gamble How movie theaters are fighting to stay alive Hollywood fights back again Jane Fonda revives Committee for the First Amendment Turner Classic Movies holds our cinematic past Does it have a future under Warner Bros Discovery The post The Netflix-ification of Hollywood What s the worst that could happen appeared first on Salon com