Netflix and Paramount's bidding war over Warner Bros, explained

Who is going to own Warner Brothers and why are all the media companies fighting

Here's what you need to know. On Friday, December 5th, Netflix announced that it would be acquiring Warner Brothers in a deal worth $82.7 billion

That made them the winners of a bidding war that kicked off in September, when Paramount just out of nowhere went

Hey, Warner Brothers, mind if I buy you? But Paramount's not quitting just yet

On Monday, December 8th, Paramount launched its own hostile takeover bid of Warner Brothers

with an offer worth $108.4 billion. dollars. What's going on? Why is everyone going after Warner Brothers, and how is this going to

impact TV and film going forward? Let's break it down. Think of the entertainment landscape as an

ocean ecosystem. We've got two sharks, Netflix and Paramount, fighting over a juicy Warner Brothers

octopus with a bunch of different tentacles. Warner Brothers Pictures, Warner Brothers TV

HBO, HBO Max, franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Looney Tunes, DC, The Monsterverse

recent movie hits like Sinners, Dune, and Barbie, beloved classics like Casablanca

Singing in the Rain, Streetcar Named Desire, whichever shark snaps up Warner Brothers gets

all of that, and future productions. As of now, the winning shark is still Netflix, and that deal

is a shock to the system for the entertainment industry This is a streaming service buying a storied legacy media brand and that creates a lot of uncertainty about film and TV going forward What will streaming and theatrical releases look like

What will happen to HBO and HBO Max? Right now, nothing. The US SEC still needs to approve the deal

and Netflix expects that the acquisition will take 12 to 18 months to go through. During that time, Warner Bros. Discovery will be spinning off its global networks division

including CNN, TNT, and the Discovery Channel, into a new publicly traded company

Netflix also confirmed in an email to subscribers that nothing is changing today

Both streaming services will continue to operate separately. However, after the merger, I'd guess Netflix-HBO Max streaming bundles would be pretty likely

in the same vein as Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN bundles. And how about the movie-going experience

After all, Netflix is a streaming service first, it doesn't prioritize theatrical releases

Could we be limited to watching the next Dune or Superman on teeny little screens

Again, not yet. Warner Brothers has contracts to release films theatrically until 2029

and the SEC filing for the deal says that Netflix expects to maintain

Warner Brothers' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films

So no streaming jail for Dune. That being said theatrical release windows could get shorter under Netflix similar to Netflix limited releases of its own films Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has spoken about long exclusive windows in theaters not being consumer and that over time the windows will evolve to be much more consumer

to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker. The future of theatrical releases is a big source of anxiety for Hollywood

A group of industry A-listers is reportedly lobbying Congress about the deal

Hollywood unions are also expressing their worries. The Directors Guild of America says the deal raises significant concerns

while the Writers Guild of America says this merger must be blocked. According to the WGA, the merger will result in fewer jobs

worse conditions for workers in the entertainment industry, and less volume and diversity in titles released

Aside from the streaming-specific angle, these concerns also apply to the idea of a Paramount-Warner Brothers merger as well

Paramount already underwent a merger of its own this year, joining with Skydance Media

Sidebar, that's the merger Stephen Colbert criticized on The Late Show three days before the series got canceled

Donald Trump sued CBS over 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris and

Paramount settled with him for 16 million. Colbert called the settlement a

big fat bribe so that Trump's administration would approve the merger. CBS then called the cancellation a purely financial decision

Now I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles It big Fat Bride Paramount Skydance laid off 2 employees following its merger echoing the layoffs of the 2022 WarnerMedia Discovery merger and the 2019 Disney 21st Century Fox acquisition In the end

these transactions are tales as old as time, and they're always about the money and never about the

actual art on the line. Warner Brothers Discovery is actually the perfect case study. Following the

2022 merger, Warner Brothers Discovery cancelled completed films and TV shows. Batgirl never saw

the light of day. That's a full-on superhero movie. Coyote vs. Acme got shelved. Thankfully

it was acquired by Catch-Up Entertainment this year, but Warner Brothers cancelling a Looney

Toons movie? The Looney Toons are Warner Brothers. Westworld got yanked from HBO Max. Do you know

how crazy that is? That was a 9pm tentpole HBO show, and now it's just gone from their library

The point is, Warner Brothers, like so many other media companies, has a vast and incredible catalog of titles

Ideally, whoever wins this bidding war will be the company that's best equipped to respect these films and shows

and shepherd them for new and returning audiences. But, given the history of similar mergers, and given Netflix and Paramount's recent track record

I'm not sure I'm holding my breath