Netflix/Warner Bros. deal on the rocks?

NBC's Rory O'Neill reports Paramount attempting a hostile bid which could cost all of us!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, so let's stump over to the Legacy Retirement

(00:02):
Group dot Com phone line and say good morning too.
And I do believe Notre Dame fan Roory O'Neil NBC
News Radio AM. I correct, there, you're a Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Guy fighting Irish anyway.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Right, So, what's how what you're feeling on the playoff
situation and them A not getting in and b then
turning down the Bowl bid.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I feel bad for the players on the Bowl bid.
You're like, come on, it's there. You know, this is
what they're gonna tell their grandkids.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I played in the toaster, especially the seniors, right, I
mean this is their they're they're they're done. I mean
their season is over. Yeah, yeah, I agree. All right,
Back to business. Uh, this Netflix Warner Brothers deal. I
was out on Friday when this thing kind of popped
a little bit. I mean there's a lot of money
involved here. And now you bring in Paramount launching a

(00:55):
hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. What's that play here?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah? You know it was Amount that actually started this
bid for Warner Brothers. Then Netflix swooped in with their
deal that was accepted on Friday, but now Paramount is saying,
wait a minute. Now, you know, when you run the
numbers and we've sweetened the deal a bit, ours is
actually a better deal for shareholders. So they're going straight
to shareholders asking them to approve the Paramount offer over Netflix,

(01:19):
and Paramount says, look, we've also got a better job
of passing regulators because Netflix is already the eight hundred
pound gorilla in streaming. Right you add in what they've
got with Warner Brothers and HBO Max, Well, now they
become a nine hundred pound gorilla and the rest of
Hollywood won't be able to compete. Paramount claims that Netflix

(01:39):
would essentially shut down the theater going experience, right, everything
would just be for streaming, They wouldn't make movies for
movie theaters anymore, and that it would hurt competition in
the long run. That's the Paramount claim anyway. But you know,
the Paramount merger or takeover has some issues as well.
One thing that does help them is that the financing

(02:01):
for the Paramount deal involves Jared Kushner, President Trump's son
in law. And of course we've seen President Trump pretty
upset with sixty minutes again and in this case, Paramount
and CBS would be merging with CNN, so you know,
maybe you can say, oh, there goes sixty minutes as
part of this whole deal. Who knows whatever arm twisting

(02:23):
may happen with the Ellison family which now runs Paramount.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's interesting as far as an entertainment consumer, you know,
you and me and Campy and people that just like
to sit down and open up you know, the TV
and put on a movie or a show. I mean,
it's the I guess the choices could be limited if
this all goes through.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, right, either way, it's going to be limited, right
either you know, somebody's getting merged with somebody, so they're
going to be fewer options. We could all use fewer options.
I think the exact when it comes to all this
streaming stuff that's out there. But you know, the Paramount
plus guys say, look, let us merge the number three
at number five streamers and create a powerful number two

(03:05):
rather than make number one even bigger by a mile