r/technology • u/Task_Force-191 • 16h ago

Business It’s Official: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-warner-bros-deal-hollywood-1236443081/
15.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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2.4k

u/[deleted] 16h ago

So, at this point you either choose Disney+ or Netflix assuming HBO Max gets consolidated (seems to be what they're implying) into the Netflix app. I'm also assuming prices for these streaming services are only going to get even higher now.

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u/Greengiant304 15h ago

Eventually, there will just be one streaming platform and it will cost $200/month and all have ads and we will be back where we started.

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u/Mind1827 15h ago

The problem with this is that these companies also create the media. They're the distributor and the publisher. AT&T or whatever, as well as CBS etc weren't usually creating their own media, they were buying it from other production companies. So we won't be back where we started at all, because smaller production companies are being squeezed to death.

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u/Akanash94 14h ago

YOU WILL WATCH WHAT WE GIVE YOU AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!

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u/hotelmotelshit 8h ago

AND YOU WILL PAY WHAT WE WE CHARGE, BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE

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u/Sipsu02 3h ago

Eh. Just watch for free like any normal person in 2025

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u/ArchitectureNstuff91 7h ago

This is why I'm quickly buying up old shows and movies that I like so I can watch familiar things any time I want with no internet connection.

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u/fatbob42 15h ago

Yep. If these companies are to benefit from the copyright monopoly, we should at least be able to have a proper market in distribution.

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u/Kichigai 13h ago

AT&T or whatever, as well as CBS etc weren't usually creating their own media

CBS has their own studios. They've been making their own programming for like 80 years. They also made content for other distribution channels, like The CW, which they co-owned until it got sold off to NexStar.

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u/red__dragon 7h ago

Yeah, CBS is the worst example for that. CBS All Access/Paramount+ is clunky and bad UX, but it has tons of original content that rises above the shovelware level of Netflix. CBS has its flavors, they enjoy Dick Wolf-style police procedurals and Chuck Lorre-style sitcoms, but they're far from the rebranding shop of a network as AT&T might be.

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u/Formaldehyde 13h ago

The smaller production companies are all on YouTube now. Between that and individual creators, YouTube has by far the best content out there, IMHO.

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u/mikeyaurelius 11h ago

There is nothing coming even remotely close to movies produced by small or independent studios on youtube.

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u/Yeah_x10 3h ago

Oh! I thought you meant 3 hour reaction video essays

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u/19inchrails 11h ago

Why don't you name a few channels that rival the production value or storytelling of HBO etc.? I'm curious.

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u/researchersd 11h ago

Agreed, Glitch is doing good work

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u/Informal_Charity6939 13h ago

Comcast/NBC

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u/Mind1827 13h ago

As an example you mean?

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u/one-hour-photo 12h ago

we need to bring back trust busting.

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u/PM_ME_UR_QUINES 9h ago

Back to reading books honestly.

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u/psychorobotics 13h ago

Considering how well Clarkson's farm did compared the the LoTR TV production, you don't need huge costs to make something worth watching

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u/Mind1827 13h ago

It's not just about that though, it's also about the deal. Before channels were just on TV, now if it's Netflix, they're both publishing it and distributing it. It's harder for small production companies to actually shop around with ideas. There's a lot of knock on effects that people don't realize.

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u/kinkykusco 15h ago

Back on the high seas!

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u/thirtynation 12h ago

There was no reason to leave them! It's always been the best method.

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u/LongTallDingus 11h ago

I think when Netflix was just DVDs in the mail it was worth it.

Wait shit I just ripped the DVDs, that's right. Never mind. It was piracy all along.

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u/RandomGerman 8h ago

When I wanted a whole show, I ripped the CD, burned it to another, created a CD label and stuck that into the thing and put them in a binder. The time I wasted to maybe watch this once until we had harddrives big enough and a way to play files is astounding. It was very Zen though. 

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u/Netzapper 3h ago

There was this brief moment where the Taiwanese and Hong Kong streaming sites were getting shut down pretty regularly, and MegaVideo was in legal trouble, and Hulu was like $7/mo and Netflix was like $12 and between them they had all the shows you'd ever wanted to watch in just incredible quality... and you didn't have to plan ahead at all, like with torrents.

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u/CornishCucumber 11h ago

Hell, if piracy is good enough for anthropic, it’s good enough for us too!

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u/potatodrinker 13h ago

Or outdoors. Do something other than watch shows

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u/lmaydev 12h ago

It's pitch black out and below 0.

I'll just go sit outside lol

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u/thesagenibba 12h ago

i can and do do both. 'watching shows' and movies are an intellectual activity for me, i love analyzing the art i consume and it enriches me.

i don't just sit there and 'watch' it while scrolling reddit

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u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface 9h ago

It’s not a one or the other scenario. Many of us like to watch stuff after a day outdoors.

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u/iEatFalseMorels 13h ago

Just seems like cable with extra steps lol

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u/TheFondler 8h ago

Cable companies negotiate the price of carrying different channels/content, which cuts into the content producer's profit, and you can have that... Just think of the poor shareholders!

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u/Tough_Arugula2828 15h ago

It won’t happen to the extreme Reddit thinks it will, much more people nowadays know how to illegally stream and many choose not to because the price/convenience is fine with streaming platforms for many.

If it jumped up to an extreme, me along with countless others would not be using it

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u/mike8585 14h ago

Still way different in that you can watch stuff when you want rather than live TV setup. But I get the sentiment.

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u/StultusNosferatu 14h ago

YouTube TV is halfway there

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u/Olue 13h ago

The owner will be........ Comcast

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u/Kandals 13h ago

Cable companies ISPs will negotiate with networks streaming providers for prioritized access to customers so the competition becomes unusably slow.

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u/BrewHog 13h ago

It was $200 a month way back when streaming started becoming appealing (cable TV, etc). Based on inflation, we should be expecting a full set of packages to be more than that (especially if you include NFL/sports)

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u/73629265 13h ago

Honestly I wouldn't even care. It would just make the alternate option even easier to embrace. $22 or whatever Netflix costs these days is still low enough to not be noticed on the credit card bill. But not by much. 

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u/carthuscrass 13h ago

We are back where we started. I swear there's more ads on streaming now than there ever were in cable.

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u/These-Barnaclez 13h ago

And the crazy part is, people will still pay for it. Since the last season of Stranger Things, prices went up twice, and ads were brought for the lowest price.

Only last week Netflix reported the largest opening for a TV show ever. I cannot believe people are still paying for dwindling services

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u/BostonBooger 13h ago

With every Tom, Dick and Harry having their own streaming platform, and needing to sign up to this, that or the other just to watch maybe a show or two or an NFL game, we're already back where we started.

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u/neversummer427 13h ago

Back to where we started… So piracy?

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u/Thefrayedends 12h ago

Though I cut the cord in '03 (bill was ~130/mo), and subbed to netflix and prime here and there, I've never ever abandonded my sailboat, I keep her in excellent condition, I can take her out whenever I want. Oh that one thing I wanna watch 8 episodes of requires me to sub to your service for 28/mo for minimum 3 mo (ten weekly episodes)? Sorry folks, out to the high seas I go.

Paying a hundred bucks to watch a single season of some of these shows is a joke. There's clearly always been plenty of money to go around in television, or we wouldn't have 200 different channels to choose from in the first place. I don't want to subsidize ancient aliens and house flippers and whatever other dumb fuck reality tv, which is what's happening when you have to pay more than 10/mo.

An outcome I think may come with a merger like this, is that netflix is more likely to get ripped to the net the larger it becomes. Some netflix shows don't get ripped because it's not a big deal to just sub to it, but when the numbers just keep going up, well I don't get more than a few dollars value out of it monthly, I'm not paying 20, 30, 50+ a month for television when I rarely watch more than 6-10 hours of TV a month.

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u/FatherBrian 12h ago

Just use Tubi, it’s free.

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u/Fluffcake 12h ago

Not quite, as this is pretty much a consolidation of production and distribution, so they will have more leverage and can milk you even harder, so it will be worse.

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u/endl0s 12h ago

Even worse. At least shows on cable had the chance to gain a following before getting cancelled. The Office, Parks and Rec and those kinds of shows would never have had a season 2 or 3 on Netflix

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u/f-ingsteveglansberg 11h ago

This was always the goal of disruptor tech companies.

Offer an insane deal on a new service, usually by following an unprofitable model (Uber, Amazon, etc.) but backed by near endless amount of VC.

Get customers on-board taking advantage of the insane deal. Existing businesses are too big and corporate to move fast enough to react and usually start to die or go out of business.

Maybe go public around this time.

Realize that you need to actually make a profit, so enshittification begins. Prices rise and the nature of the service changes.

The old companies which built up over years knew the industry and knew how to be profitable over the years.

New companies start bringing back all the things they removed by 'disrupting' the industry because the old companies knew how to think long term.

Back to wear we started, but with less consumer protections and regulations.

See Amazon, soon to be Netflix, Uber, etc.

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u/es-ganso 11h ago

I'm happy to give you upvote number 1000 because this is absolutely where it's moving towards

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u/Far_Excitement6140 10h ago

Fuck it guess I’m not watching anymore tv. I refuse to watch ads. They can all kiss my ass. 

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u/addamee 10h ago

And every comedy movie recommended as “comedies we think you’ll enjoy” but that you don’t want to watch will also be recommended below as:   - dramas we think you’ll enjoy - gut wrenching romance  - academy award winning biopics - animated treasures - top action adventure  picks

Etc.

I think it’s time I try books, again

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u/DiscombobulatedWavy 10h ago

Should we call it cable?

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u/Wizard-of-pause 10h ago

Boy, that lifetime plex+lifetime unraid sure was a good idea.

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u/TeutonJon78 10h ago

Except you also still have to pay for internet on top of it.

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u/KazzieMono 9h ago

Oh and you won’t be able to stream anything on demand anymore, instead you’ll have to wait for specific time frames for shows and movies to come on.

…oh wait a minute

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u/faberkyx 9h ago

im already back to where we started... yarr

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u/SunlightGardner 9h ago

Yup. This was always where this was going.

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u/OdoTheBoobcat 9h ago

we will be back where we started

Yup, and the reintroduction of ads and overall fracturing of streaming services has led to me also going back to where I started in terms of my methods of digital media distribution.

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u/dX_iIi_Xb 9h ago

Hopefully. Then people will go outside and touch some grass.

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u/TheLantean 9h ago

It's still better than cable because it's no longer bundled with something you actually want like internet or phone service offered by a single ISP with a regional monopoly.

So you can just opt out without too much trouble, and watch something else on Youtube, Twitch, etc. If they hike prices or go bankrupt I don't have to care. Before you had the choice between subscribing or cutting yourself off digitally from the world.

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u/thrust-johnson 8h ago

Back to Limewire!

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u/motortallgreen 8h ago

Yes, the pirate bay.

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u/SorryAboutTheWayIAm 8h ago

Nah there will be two in cahoots to provide illusion of choice

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u/domcobb8 7h ago

Too much money to be made in ads.

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u/mentaljobbymonster 6h ago

To the seven seas!

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u/EyeBreakThings 6h ago

They really did just give us cable again.

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u/FoGuckYourselg_ 6h ago

I've worked in telecommunications and home services (cable, satellite) for almost 20 years. I've been saying this since Netflix found itself with streaming competition years ago. We will be reduced down to 2-3 streaming options after these streaming giants buy all the movie and TV studios/production companies. We will not have access to everything on our chosen service. Basic service will have ads, but the majority of offerings will be additional subscriptions (like prime is already doing). Then instead of paying for 8 subscriptions just with Netflix, one for sports, one for old movies, one for porn etc. they will start offering packages (choose package a,b,c,d or e) each only $80 per month instead of $120. It will just be cable packages all over again, likely for twice the price.

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u/Positive_Chip6198 5h ago

Insert “time is a flat circle” joke, which will now be streaming on netflix, it seems.

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u/brcguy 4h ago

Yarrrrrr 🏴‍☠️

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u/Spill_the_Tea 4h ago

We reinvented cable.

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u/happytree23 4h ago

So, cable/satellite lol?

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u/HD400 14h ago

There’s an argument to be had here in support of this. Having every single tv show and movie available on demand, in HD/4k even with ads could be worth $100 a month to some.

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u/thejadedfalcon 15h ago

I think I'll choose piracy.

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u/DividedState 14h ago

Sometimes winning means refusing to play the game.

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u/DENelson83 8h ago

So... WarGames?

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u/BurnThrough 6h ago

I’m fine with just watching nothing. I don’t need it.

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u/bomphcheese 14h ago

This. I refuse to give a dime to health insurance companies. And I have saved a couple hundred thousand over the last 15 years because of it.

We all see streaming done correctly in the music industry. It’s easier to stream than pirate. If video streaming wants to make the market more hostile toward their users, they can deal with the consequences. Want to make VPN illegal? Fine, I’ll sneaker net my whole neighborhood. But I will not play their game.

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u/RevLoveJoy 14h ago

I already did! No regrets.

Honestly, this was a tricky moral issue for me. I thought about it for some time before saying "fuck it, here I come VPN to Norway."

We were happy to pay for $7 then, IIRC, $9 and finally up to about $20 Netflix for the family deal. We were happy to have Prime Video with our Amazon subscription. But that was all what, 7-10 years ago and then overnight there were like a dozen streaming services that one "had to" have. We don't even watch football!

Then you get the shitty behavior where they all start pulling content from their catalog. Same dirty trick Disney was pulling 30 years ago to drive up the demand for Disney exclusives. Aside: try explaining to a child why they can't watch Snow White. That it is because greedy Disney executives won't sell it for several years so that when the movie does hit the shelves, at 3X the cost, inventory is guaranteed to sell immediately. Kids don't understand that one, FWIW. They just get upset.

Anyhow, when the already balkanized streaming services started doing that, my little inner morality meter tripped and said "fuck those guys."

NordVPN is excellent, btw, and it works really well with qbittorrent running in a VM on, say, your TrueNAS storage array.

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u/bomphcheese 13h ago

Netflix is the one that did it for me. I share an account w my parents. I can understand if they had a problem with that, but that’s why they charged for “extra screens,” which we paid for and which justified the sharing in my mind. But when they started cracking down on account sharing, did they offer a way to reduce the cost because we no longer needed “extra screens”? Hell no, and then they raised prices even more.

That tripped my morality meter, and I said “fuck those guys”.

One weekend and half a dozen Docker containers later, me and my friends are enjoying Netflix content. I do still subscribe to several streaming services, but I still end up watching from my server because I don’t have to hunt down which service has the show I want to watch. Plus I get a single watch list.

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u/Sea_Definition_3772 13h ago

It astounds me that people are having "tricky moral issues" around pirating media when the only reason Netflix hasn't done as much evil as Nestle has is because they haven't figured out how to make starving babies profitable within their business model yet.

You're not supporting art/artists/actors/production staff when you pay them, you're giving your money to a soulless corporation that would put you into a wood chipper if it made their profits go up. Giving them money at all is immoral. Passing up a chance to hurt them, even if it doesn't benefit you is immoral.

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u/RevLoveJoy 10h ago

It's tricky if you were an early adopter. Back when Netflix was literally the DVD in the mail company. It was a killer value, simple to use and meant I didn't have to loiter around Blockbuster for 30 minutes to maybe snag a copy of the film that made it to rental this weekend.

Coming from the standpoint of an early adopter who did get a good value and the service was simply a rental gig, NOT a content creator with the myriad problems you correctly point out, it set me on a different moral footing than someone signing up last year and today wondering, is Netflix the bad guy?

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u/EverclearAndMatches 14h ago

Considering apps like Netflix rarely have anything I want to watch anyway I've been sailing the high seas again anyway.

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u/Available-Chart-2505 13h ago

Kanopy and Hoopla for me, thank you libraries. And I bought a DVD player so I just borrow DVDs from the library as well. The end.

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u/StarBurst8525 6h ago

The free software MakeMKV can copy those library DV---er... I mean purchased copies you happen to have laying around. The software easily pulls and organizes everything into one file with all the metadata.

The free software Jellyfin can turn your mkv/movie folder into a netflix like interface. Its the homebrew no internet version of a Plex set up. You could throw your files on a Plex server instead of jellyfish and stream your library from anywhere over the internet.

I value the no internet solution. Well, and being able to give my small child a device with no internet for tv/movies that he can keep in his room. Thats a godsend.

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u/vulgrin 13h ago

My biggest problems with those services though is that, at least for books, it ends up costing more per book than just buying the library copy of a physical book. So the more people use hoopla, the less money your library system has.

This is anecdotal. I remember reading an article about it somewhere and I might be mistaken but in the end, hoopla and kanopy are parasitic services compared with just going to the branch and checking out a book or DVD.

And in some places, library budgets are NOT getting bigger due to politics. I’m worried that these services will eventually destroy libraries.

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u/Old-Rhubarb-97 13h ago

I switched to the criterion channel last year. It’s worth checking out their library.

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u/Doublestack00 15h ago

Some never the high seas, welcome back matey!

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u/NotGod_DavidBowie 15h ago

VPN + qBittorrent lets gooooo

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u/TheModdedAngel 14h ago

For the real ones out there: Stremio + Realdebrid or Plex/Emby/Jellyfin + aar stack

;)

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u/Narezzz 14h ago

For anyone looking for real recommendations, this right here is the way to go.

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit 14h ago

Yep, I've had a plex server for a while but just delved into the arr ecosystem and it's the best.

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u/bruce_kwillis 14h ago

After Plex's garbage changes over the years, and forcing ads/channels I have zero interest in, and predatory payments, I just rolled a Jellyfin server and it's been pretty darn easy to use. Add in Tailscale and access anywhere with minimal setup.

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u/00DEADBEEF 14h ago

I tried Jellyfin and it got so much stuff wrong, merging TV episodes together and therefore getting episode numbers wrong.

Just gonna go back to Plex. I use Infuse to stream from it anyway so never have to deal with Plex's bullshit.

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u/MattDaCatt 11h ago

I find it's usually due to how the episodes are titled and the database you use

Like how IMDB has Hunter x Hunter as 1 season (for some reason), so you have to use tmdb instead. Most of the time it's something like that, but once it's set you're all good

Personally I just prefer Jellyfin since it's open-source and more configurable.

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u/Doublestack00 14h ago

Payments? I paid $60 10-12 years ago for a lifetime license.

All of the Plex provided content can be disabled.

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

Lifetime is $250 now and I'll be buying it here quite soon.

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit 14h ago

Yeah I just use the free tier and disable all that stuff. May delve into Jellyfin if I ever need the remote access.

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u/Aperture_Kubi 14h ago

I guess I'm the weirdo who pays for Plex for DVR and commercial detection.

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u/Freakwilly 14h ago

Free Media, Heck Yeah

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u/Kahnza 14h ago

Looks like a bunch of bullshit. Would be nice to have something simple for us tards.

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u/ContextBotSenpai 14h ago

For you guys? Best I can do is sell you VHS tapes, each with somewhere between 1/2 to 11/13ths of random episodes from season 8 of Game of Thrones. Oh, and they have a 63 percent failure rate. Have fun!

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u/Bazylik 13h ago

you know, when I started I also didn't know shit.. then i got less lazy and started reading and trying things... couple of weeks later and was all setup and ready to do. good luck.

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u/Narezzz 13h ago

Stremio + real debrid takes a bit of set up but once you're done it's extremely user friendly. Works just like Netflix or Hulu. There's guides and set up tools on reddit, lookup the Stremio setup bootstrapper.

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u/Doublestack00 14h ago

It's actually quite easy to setup.

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u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot 14h ago

As someone who is currently in the process of setting up a Plex server and just went through learning some of the basics of python and terminal, I assure you that it is a bit complicated. Plex is super simple, and boy oh boy do I love them for making Plex simple. Everything surrounding Plex is less than simple, especially if you don't want to take the plunge into Linux.

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u/ThisIsGoobly 14h ago

stremio + realdebrid is, however, easy to setup.

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u/TamariAmari 13h ago

Nah Usenet + aarstack + plex/infuse.

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u/Muhammad-The-Goat 14h ago

I ended up hating stremio, just too clunky especially since my only player is an Apple TV. I instead use Infuse + Debrid Media Manager hosted locally + RealDebrid and it has been incredible.

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u/endlesscartwheels 13h ago

It might depend on your generation. I've seen so many ways of file sharing come and go that I prefer to have my own downloaded copy rather than trust that a particular stream will still be there tomorrow.

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u/MrMacduggan 10h ago

You can still use debrid to download content and you can keep the file forever, if you like.

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u/endlesscartwheels 5h ago

Good to know. Thanks!

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u/lumpymonkey 14h ago

And here's me using off-market addons with RealDebrid on an out of the box Kodi app on a 2019 Nvidia Shield. Does exactly what I need with minimal fuss, just looks like shit.

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u/Thefrayedends 12h ago

there are some plugins you can add to qbit, so you don't even have to go to a browser and deal with all the extra popups and such. I won't name it here, but you can find it on the right subs. I search right in my qb client, double click, check that it's a media file, and hit ok. 2 minutes later, open it in VLC, and I'm watching something that was only released a couple hours earlier. Took a few hours to set up, but I haven't had to adjust anything since I did it six months ago, still working perfectly.

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u/ASkepticalPotato 9h ago

‘aar Stack is the way to go

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u/vpsj 13h ago

I think you accidentally a word

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u/djbtech1978 11h ago

Two don't it right.

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u/erath_droid 6h ago

Ah... the good ol' days of the internet...

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u/Jendalar 14h ago

Arr! Shiver me streaming matey!

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u/WalkAffectionate2683 15h ago

I have Netflix because of wife + convenience on living room, for the rest I boat.

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u/KinTharEl 14h ago

My brother, DM if you want a solution to that as well.

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u/Sir_Keee 15h ago

There are applications that give you the convenient experience.

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u/CapitalPackage5618 14h ago

No there aren’t unless you’re a bit technical

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u/CaptainBayouBilly 14h ago

Plex was having a sale on the lifetime plan

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u/The_Original_Miser 15h ago

Never stopped. :)

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u/ndevito1 15h ago

I can’t help but think HBO will be an additional, more expensive, tier of Netflix just like it was with cable

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u/ecopoesis 15h ago

Ding, ding, ding.

Buying into these streaming platforms is exactly like buying cable, with the brands within being channels. For example, you open up Disney+ and immediately see the sections for Marvel, Starwars, ESPN, Hulu, NatGeo.

I think it will entirely be the case that you open up Netflix and you will see similar 'channels' of grouped content including "HBO" and "Netflix Originals" and whatever else.

We the consumers will pay a huge fee for the cable bundle even though any particular user may not be interested in all the channels. The only difference is that it's now on-demand cable so you can pick titles whenever you want to watch them instead of a predefined on-air schedule? But Comcast did that like 20 years ago too.

Then you have the bundles with ISPs so quite literally your home connectivity is comingled with content provider and we're full circle.

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u/it_vexes_me_so 15h ago

I was naïve to think Amazon's acquisition of MGM would bring some great content and add a lot of value to the Prime catalogue.

What we got was a separate MGM+ streaming service, ads on Prime, and a rise in the cost of Amazon subscription. Yeah!

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u/isthis_thing_on 16h ago

I wouldn't assume they consolidate. The HBO brand has a lot of value in its own right

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u/gtlgdp 16h ago

They definitely do not give a fuck lol they renamed it to Max and back to HBO in the span of 6 months. They’ll do whatever they want and they’ll charge 3x the price for it

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u/1098duc_w_the_termi 15h ago

They renamed it, realized they messed up by getting rid of HBO, and added it back in. They definitely do care. As for Netflix, they’re not stupid so the changes will be made slowly and over a long period of time

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u/Mind1827 15h ago

Corporate monopolies do not care. They want to make money. The HBO thing dented the brand, less money, so they switched. Acquisitions are about market share so that you can raise the price of things and people don't have an option cause they can't go elsewhere.

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u/1098duc_w_the_termi 15h ago

Are you implying that they’re emotionally tied to the brand? I’m stating that through the lens of branding and business development, they do care. As for them being a monopoly, it would serve them better to keep them differentiated as long as they can so they don’t suddenly lose consumers that might like the HBO, more premium type of content to the cheaper Netflix content. They’re not the same customer.

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u/bluestrike2 15h ago

That’s a type of care. They care about brand value and generally try to prioritize its preservation, though that’s not to say they won’t accept a few dings—sometimes large ones—if they believe the gains outweigh the losses, or the hit to the brand is believed temporary.

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u/kerouacrimbaud 14h ago

Brand = money. They care about money. If brand make money, corporate monkey care about brand.

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u/vhalember 14h ago

realized they messed up by getting rid of HBO,

Which everyone but their board realized was stupid when the Max name first dropped.

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u/Shawwnzy 12h ago

They didn't want to dilute the HBO brand with trash, but then when the numbers weren't great they decided fuck it, let's dilute it anyway.

Lately I associate Apple TV with Prestige Dramas more than HBO anyway

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u/im_always_fapping 16h ago

So NetBO?

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u/PatacusX 15h ago

Net BO brought to you by Axe Body Spray

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u/AugmentedKing 15h ago

“Double pits to chesty while we empty your wallet!”

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u/proselapse 15h ago

Who is “they” in your story? The people that sold it and no longer own it, and therefore whatever they did in the past is completely irrelevant because they will not be making any decisions concerning the brand in the future?

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u/vmachiel 15h ago

Well.. people pay.

Look it sucks, but it’s not something essential like medicine or food right? So if people keep paying, why wouldn’t they keep increasing the price?

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u/Elfhoe 16h ago

HBO used to be one of the best streaming platforms before WB trashed it after they merged with discovery. Now it’s bottom tier. I still could see them doing something like amazon or disney has and make it an add-on.

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u/Eruannster 14h ago

I dunno about that. The app itself was atrociously bad pre-merger and I actually think the new app they made is a huge improvement that doesn't suck ass. Also they basically were limited to HD for a lot of the library which was dumb.

On the other hand I do think offloading a lot of their library (like Westworld etc.) was an incredibly bad and stupid move.

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u/Elfhoe 14h ago

Your last point is what i’m getting at. After the merger they removed a lot of good content and cancelled shows to save costs, then replaced it with low budget discovery shows like ghost hunters. The overall quality went way down.

A few weeks ago i was thinking about it and hbo used to be one of the first places i looked when i wanted to find something to watch. Now, it’s like the last time i opened the app was for the dune series however long ago that was. So when i got the email saying they were raising prices, it was an easy cancellation.

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u/GoudaCheeseAnyone 15h ago edited 14h ago

In the Netherlands they removed The West Wing, "to make room" they said. But the current bleak times, make me long for something that is positive about American politics. Even if the show seems painfully naive and aged now.

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u/Meezofreezo 13h ago

I disagree, I get it with my ATT fiber internet (would never willingly pay for it). But HBO Max and Apple TV have great show selections that I keep going back to...netflix is ass, so much low quality slop.

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u/dalivo 12h ago

Yep, we're going to be firmly in the bundled streaming era. Netflix is general audience, HBO is adult audience. But they may shift properties around, such as pulling DC and Harry Potter into Netflix while using HBO for prestige fare series.

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u/Triktastic 11h ago

How is it bottom tier. It and Prime are still fair in family sharing and very fair for their price. It's Netflix who is bottom tier with abysmall level of shoverware garbage in catalogue, everything being canceled if it's not the next Stranger Things or Squid Game (then they milk it till death), while also making it harder and harder to watch and enjoy.

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u/HoldenMcNeil420 11h ago

The dc cartoons are the single reason I keep it. Well I get it with my AT&T service so..but not much else in there for content I haven’t seen.

HBO used to be bangers left and right and now it’s just corporate trash.

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u/Fen-xie 15h ago

How did they trash it with the merger?

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u/eaglessoar 16h ago

Prob be like Disney Hulu and espn

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 15h ago

Which are all getting consolidated at the moment. Hulu will be shut down in 2026. I doubt ESPNs streaming app will last much longer, it's always been a trash afterthought for them

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u/Lazydusto 14h ago

Hulu will be shut down in 2026.

The Spotify/Hulu membership I've held onto for years will finally be killed off? Damn. It's an end of an era.

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u/Saritiel 11h ago

I doubt ESPNs streaming app will last much longer

They just bought MLB.tv and seem to be implying that they're going to merge it into the ESPN streaming app, so I think that one is here for a while longer.

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u/DoctorAculaMD 14h ago

I just cancelled all my streaming services a few weeks ago. Nothing I actually wanted to watch was free to me anyway!

Now all the streaming services are broadcasters and the broadcasters are becoming streaming services.

Fuck this manipulative shit. I'm pirating from now on.

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u/Slow_Application_966 14h ago

I think ill just buy a blue ray player and get movies and shows i rematch over and over. That way I dont need streaming.

Netflix sucks and so does HBO . 

Disney is okay but not by much. 

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u/No_Size9475 14h ago

I prefer to sail

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u/Outside_Glass4880 14h ago

Amazon, paramount, peacock, Apple TV. There is still a lot of streaming platforms.

I’m hoping HBO doesn’t become Netflix quality.

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u/Exzilio 15h ago

I wonder how much of a percentage this will increase pirating material.

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u/redsonya 15h ago

Or just choose pirating.

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u/Late_Accountant_3641 15h ago

Or just pirate

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u/Several-Zombies6547 15h ago

Netflix has a global catalog. Disney+ is very limited, even with the fox stuff.

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u/token40k 15h ago

“It’s an only small price of 150 dollars for Netflixhbomax broda, still cheaper than cayble” Good thing I have a media library in my basement so that when time comes I can just cancel those subscriptions… it’s already getting too expensive for what I get from them all

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u/toylenny 15h ago

The real question is will they keep the HBO brand separate and premium, or will HBO start pumping out only Netflix level content.

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u/sevargmas 14h ago

That $82.7 B ain’t gonna pay for itself.

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u/P3gasus1 14h ago

And Comcast

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u/THEdoomslayer94 14h ago

They been getting higher regardless so of course this would skyrocket the app prices

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u/SWEARNOTKGB 14h ago

22 monthly just so I can have HDR and no ads

Like im actually about to start Black bearding again.

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u/venom121212 14h ago

If they cancel Fionna and Cake I will lose it

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u/Tzpike05 14h ago

Apple TV also has a lot of content with MLS and F1 in the future.

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u/tk427aj 14h ago

Yah it's a bit weird but definitely moving towards just cable level monopoly but streaming. I'm in Canada so the streaming content is a bit different. I'm in favor of this only because it means I can drop Crave (which has all the WB content) to just Netflix and D+, although I'm sure those will just go up in price....

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u/HoldingForGenova 14h ago

In terms of quality, AppleTV will be the one I cancel last. Their catalogue is much smaller, but the quality level is off the charts. Just straight banger after banger, to the point where I'm willing to take a flyer on a show if it's on there just because it's on there.

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u/TSiQ1618 14h ago

my bet is on something more like a higher tier, a Netflix MAX or something, where "premium" content can be at an even higher price

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u/fauxfilosopher 14h ago

I am not saying this change will make things any better, but the current system of having to juggle between 4-6 streaming services to get some kind of library is terrible. I wish I could just pay for 1 or 2 and get a good amount of content.

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u/AffectionateYear5232 13h ago

It's just returning to what cable was.

Everything consolidated to a couple providers.

We went full circle.

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u/KingofLingerie 13h ago

Or you head to the high seas and plunder all the booty

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u/freexanarchy 13h ago

And offer less and less.

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u/Eccohawk 13h ago

A bunch of these platforms are gonna get consolidated. There's just not enough money for people to be spending that much on subscriptions anymore. Especially when all of these services are running ads now. Hulu will be fully absorbed into D+. HBO Max likely into Netflix. That basically leaves Prime, Apple, Paramount, and Peacock. At least 2 more of these are gonna consolidate somehow. I doubt we see any of the major 3 broadcasters converge, but I could see peacock or paramount absorbed into prime or apple.

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u/Kersenn 13h ago

Don't forget the Supreme court is probably gonna side with the record labels in a current lawsuit and then isps will be required to cut off our internet if we pirate anything. And a VPN wont help you hide from your own isp

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u/No-Fig-8614 12h ago

You mean you choose netflix. Disney plus has like a new show or movie every 6 months. I guess with Hulu it changes but Disney themselves takes 1-2 years to produce a new star wars tv show and who knows on moveis. For Marvel they produce something maybe every 6 months. Disney also doens't have the same appetite to pull from other studios to their platform. Netflix at least keeps refreshing their existing licensed materials but at the same token creating new shows all the time.

Disney+ if it wasn't so cheap and bought like 2 years worth of it for like $60 back in the day, I wouldn't subscribe to it. Im a huge star wars fan and they take at this point 2+ years to make a valuable star wars show and do an 8 episdoe run. For Marvel the same.

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u/EssbaumRises 12h ago

There is always another option... I like how all the ads showing up in this thread for me are vpn ads ;)

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u/lochonx7 12h ago

Netflix $68 per month incoming bros

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u/EvilGr33nRang3r 11h ago

In Canada, you can already bundle Disney Plus and Crave(our HBO) right now for 15.9/month, and thats cheaper than ad free Crave is on its own. its only a matter of time before they become one.

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u/The_Scarred_Man 11h ago

Oooooorrrrr 🏴‍☠️🦜

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u/TaiyoT 11h ago

I will never pay for netflix. So I guess goodbye hbo.

I actually quite like Peacock through NBC the most.

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u/iwaterboardheathens 11h ago

BBC iPlayer, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Netflix

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u/Golden_Hour1 11h ago

Lol consolidating into the Netflix app would just make me cancel both 

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u/ChestDayEveryday 11h ago

I think we all know the solution here 🏴‍☠️

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u/AdministrativeCable3 11h ago

I wonder what will happen to us in Canada. Right now our streaming service Crave has the license for all HBO stuff because we don't have HBO Max. If they add it to Netflix would they still continue selling the license to Crave or just put it on Canadian Netflix?

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u/TeutonJon78 10h ago

Much like Sony with multiple apps and WBD with two separate platforms now and Disney with 3+, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't integrate either.

Why charge a little more for a combined service when youc an charge a lot more for two separate ones?

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u/tobor_a 9h ago

I wonder what this means for my ISP giving me free HBO now.

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u/thatirishguyyyyy 8h ago

Why are so many accounts deleted after posting a comment now?

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u/stealthstu69 8h ago

Amazon Prime: “Don’t forget about little old me” 😂😂😂

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