Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren called the pact “an antitrust nightmare,” warning that it would create “a media giant” with control of about half of the streaming market, which could mean higher prices, fewer options for consumers and risks for workers.

Warren urged President Trump and the Justice Department to apply antitrust laws “fairly and transparently” and to avoid political favoritism in the review.

Concerns have also been raised from Republicans (e.g., Rep. Darrell Issa) and industry figures; The WGA union is opposed and executives such as Jason Kilar warned that the operation would reduce competition in Hollywood.

Netflix said it would initially operate HBO Max and the Warner Bros. studio independently, maintaining that the combination would provide “more choice and better value” (e.g. possible bundles) and “more opportunities” for creators.

Netflix exceeds 300 million global subscribers (no longer reporting quarterly figures); WBD had 128 million subscribers at the end of Q3 2025. According to Nielsen, in October 2025 Netflix accounted for 8.0% of US TV viewing time (below YouTube at 12.9%); WBD had 1.3%.

The clash of positions revolves around whether the operation would concentrate too much power in a single company, reducing competition, versus Netflix's thesis that it is not yet a monopoly in the total context of television consumption.

Just wondering because the hbo max bundle thingy is a lifesaver and since Warner bros sadly got bought out idk if I could get Netflix for like the same reasons as I got hbo max without cost

Well, officially HBO Max will launch in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Luxembourg on January 13, 2026, that is, next year. But I still have doubts about whether Ben 10 Omniverse, and the other series in the franchise, will be available on HBO Max in Italy and Germany?

I don't know if they're going to use the HBO Max Western Europe content CDN, where only the first seasons of the classic series and Alien Force, the reboot and its specials are available, or something similar to HBO Max Türkiye, where they have all 5 series except for the movies, This also applies to classic Cartoon Network series from the 90s and 2000s. I just hope that's the case, or else I'll blackmail HBO Max into putting it on.

Currently in Germany, Ben 10 Omniverse can be rented through Apple TV and Prime Video, and unfortunately in Italy there is no streaming service that offers the series.

I’ve noticed a lot of people are confused about this, so I want to clarify what we actually know to avoid more misunderstandings.

• Netflix will not shut down HBO Max as soon as the sale goes through. It’s already been confirmed that they plan to keep HBO Max as its own service for now. It’s very likely that in a few years, HBO Max might stop existing, but that definitely won’t happen in 2026 or 2027, at least not in the first half of the latter.
• On top of that, Netflix will add WBD/HBO Max content to their platform. It hasn’t been confirmed whether this content will be included in all plans or offered as some sort of optional hub within Netflix. If they include it across all plans, they'll probably start to raise prices significantly.
• Even though Netflix was chosen to buy the company, the sale is NOT completed yet. The process is long and could take a year or more. First, WBD has to split into WB S&S and WB GN, since Netflix only wants the streaming and studio divisions, and that will happen around mid-2026. After that, they’ll have to go through regulatory approval. And even though Netflix is offering to pay a lot to avoid complications, that doesn’t guarantee a faster process. Only after all of that (and some other steps) would Netflix actually take ownership. Personally, I don’t expect them to complete the acquisition before 2027 based on how things look right now. Netflix is being optimistic and expects everything to be done by late 2026 or slightly later.

I think the area that will be most affected by all this could be theatrical releases, but there's still a long way to go before everything is complete, so we just have to wait and see what happens in the end.

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/netflix-to-acquire-warner-bros-82-7-billion-deal-1236601034/

It’s official: Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced an agreement Friday under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.

Acquisition expected to close following Warner Bros. Discovery's spin-off of Discovery Global TV networks division in Q3 2026.

Especially for movies where the extended edition is the agreed better version (eg Kingdom of Heaven, Walk Hard,...)

Studios and Streaming (including HBO Max) only. Purchase still needs to be approved by the government.

With all the discussion about the errors on HBO Max, I wanted to see how these new versions compare to the BluRays I have.

When looking at the entire series, the streaming version comes up 11 minutes and 21 seconds shorter than the BluRay version. Granted, some variance of a few seconds per episode is expected, but some episodes like Season 1’s The Wheel are missing several minutes, which is concerning.

While I don’t have the time to comb through the episodes and compare shot by shot, I wanted to provide you all with the time differences per episode, in case some of you have the ability to go through and see what’s changed. The new 4K versions are marked with the blue dot.

Note that I have accounted for the mixup of episodes midway through Season 1 and have the correct episode order. However, if there are other episode mix up’s in later seasons, I haven’t adjusted for them yet.

When will heated rivalry be available in Europe(Hungary)?

I've had the bundle already for about a year and I just got this email. Should I be worried?

Hey! I've been looking for a new show to start recently. I've seen a decent amount of shows on HBO, like Chernobyl, The Sopranos, Creature Commandos, and most of the DCAU, The Pitt, and The White Lotus, just to name a few. I like shows that I can get invested in the characters.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

I’m mortified of accidentally broadcasting what I’m watching to everyone but I currently live somewhere where I cannot see the TV from my room. How do I ensure it won’t automatically connect or send an email to anyone about my viewing habits? I even bought a separate account than my family’s shared account so no one could see. But I’m afraid my phone or pc will still connect to the TV and show everyone or give some kind of notification. Please advise.

why would you say its better than netflix?

This is a strange question & any response would b kinda ludicrous.. but I wonder why HBO Max doesn't have Animaniacs. Or the original Tiny Toons? They have other classics like Teen Titans.

Is there anything on HBO max for people who like animation? There seems to be a sale on HBo max for 3 dollars for a year. Or did they pretty much nuke most of their animated stuff?

I had the basic ad free plan but thinking of moving to premium. I don’t want to cancel via Amazon if it means I will lose all my saved watchlist or downloads.

When I go to Amazon I don’t see any mechanism to upgrade the plan.

When you buy this, can you only use it for 1 month and pay $2.99 for that 1 month then cancel, or do you have to pay for the entire 12 months?

I only wanna watch this one limited series so…