Joe Flint: Wall Street Journal reporter on Netflix acquiring Warner Bros Studios

Another major shake up is coming to the streaming sphere as Netflix agrees to acquire Warner Bros Studios.

The $125B acquisition includes HBO Max - giving them the rights to shows like Game of Thrones, Succession, and Euphoria. 

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has said theatrical releases will become more limited, as Netflix sees them as not 'consumer friendly'.

Wall Street Journal media and entertainment reporter Joe Flint told Heather du Plessis Allan, "generally Wall Street and Hollywood already felt Netflix was the king. So yes, if this goes through, not only are they the king, but they've probably extended their reign by 100 years or so."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Massive news out of Hollywood in just the last few days.
Netflix has agreed to acquire Warner Brothers Studios that includes
HBO Max in a deal that's worth aout one hundred
and twenty five billion New Zealand dollars. If it goes through,
it's subject to regulatory approval, and if it goes through,
it's going to make Netflix the biggest screen powerhouse on
the planet. Joe Flint is the media and entertainment reporter
for The Wall Street Journal and with us Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Joe, I'm here right, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Is this if this goes through, is this that the
streaming walls are over? Netflix is the king?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well, it's funny because generally Wall Street and Hollywood already
felt Netflix was the king. So yes, if this goes through,
not only are they the king, but they've probably extended
their reign by one hundred years or so. Yeah, it's
a huge deal, huge implications in Hollywood, Wall Street for consumers. Obviously,
as you mentioned, there will be a pretty tough regulatory

(00:50):
battle for them, but they feel very confident that they
will ultimately get this deal through Washington.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Do you think the response from Netflix is now that
they've got all the really good stuff on their like
Succession and White Lotus and whatever that they push their
price up.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, of course, they will argue that ultimately this will
be good for consumers because they've indicated that they want
to keep HBO going as a separate brand and they
will bundle it with Netflix and that will lower the
cost for consumers. But of course that's the kind of
thing you say when you're trying to curry favor to
get a deal through. But ultimately, I've yet to see

(01:28):
the merger that really ultimately is all that beneficial to consumers,
So you know, wait and see. But they're saying all
the right things.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Now, Yeah, and does it impact the way that they
play out the Warner stuff in the theaters, because that's
not really a Netflix's wheelhouse, is it.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
No. Netflix has been adamantly against the theatrical business. Now
they will tell you it's not that they're anti movie theaters.
It's at their anti long gaps of time between when
a movie is in a theater before it hits the
streaming marketplace, and that they're perfectly fine with putting movies
in theaters, but they want them on their service, you know,

(02:05):
pretty close to the same time. But they have said
that they will honor Warner Brothers existing theatrical agreements, and
again what that means going forward when it's up to
them to greenlight movies and make movies. We'll see what
happens there.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah, Joe, thanks so much, mate, Joe Flint. Wall Street Journal,
Media and Entertainment Report is going to have implications obviously
back home here because the guys who have the HBO content,
the Warner content is Neon Sky TV so all, and
they've got all the good stuff, the Game of Thrones,
the White Lotus, the Sopranos, the Succession, the Last of Us,
all of that stuff all's going to come off there
presumably and go on to Netflix. And I don't know,

(02:42):
do you keep your Neon account if that stuff's off
and it's over at Netflix. For more from the Mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
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