While the pending merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount may feel like inside baseball, it will soon impact insiders and viewers alike, with the deal reportedly bringing the existence of a popular streaming platform to an end. And that’s without mentioning that consumers could also see fewer films in theaters, as well as the havoc coming to the entertainment industry workforce that has continually voiced disapproval of the merger. The months-long battle for Warner Bros. saw Netflix backing a theatrical model to supplement streaming, while the company has returned to streaming dominance, going as far as to say they won’t work with top directors who insist on theatrical releases.
Netflix is currently winning the streaming war and looking to keep their spot atop the digital mountain.
Paramount/Skydance CEO David Ellison has promised, time and again, that the merged companies will produce and release at least 30 films per year. These are movies that will hit theaters, on-demand, and then streaming and home video. The lifecycle is in direct contrast with Netflix, which is threatened by the market share Paramount and Warner Bros. will have between HBO Max and Paramount+. As reported today in Politico, Netflix is waging a “scorched earth campaign” behind the scenes in Washington D.C. in an attempt to kill the deal. Paramount’s legal team has argued that Netflix has leveled a “panic-level response” to a Paramount-Warner merger, showing”just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount as a scaled competitor.”
The deal has also found a range of problems, such as the foreign investment funds that make up half of the cash, which political leaders have defined as a “national security threat.” The Paramount merger with Warner Bros. is also facing regulator trouble in the United Kingdom, where legal inquiries are circling about how the merger will limit competition for viewers. Stacking streaming platforms limits outlets for movies and shows and reduces distribution costs for the parent company. This vertical integration was the foundation of Hollywood’s Golden Age, where studios owned theater chains, but the practice was rendered illegal in 1948 (only to be overturned in 2020).
So, how does this impact you? If Paramount/Skydance can close the deal to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery later this year, the plan is to phase out some of the assets. HBO has been a prestige brand since its genesis in the 1970s. It wouldn’t make sense to get rid of a household name — a lesson Warner Bros. learned when it renamed HBO to HBO Go, then HBO Max, then Max, and then back to HBO Max. It’s clear that the HBO name carries weight, we know what kind of shows the company produces, the quality to expect, and that reputation is priceless.
Paramount+, despite years of growth, cannot compete with HBO’s prestige and will likely be phased out. Of course, HBO will be under a new banner as well, though its brand will remain intact. Ellison has noted that HBO boss Casey Bloys will retain control of production decisions. We can expect to lose Paramount+ while HBO will be under, perhaps, a Paramount/Warner Bros. yet-to-be-named platform. This is similar to how Hulu was incorporated into Disney+, though Hulu still operates as its own app as of this writing.
The streaming wars are ramping up an epic battle. Watch these moves closely, as they will certainly impact what kinds of movies and shows we see, how many are available, as well as how much it all costs to enjoy.
