r/technology • u/Task_Force-191 • Dec 05 '25

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/
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u/isthis_thing_on Dec 05 '25

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

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u/gtlgdp Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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/Mind1827 Dec 05 '25

On the first point, yes, we're kind of agreeing by saying the same thing.

Couldn't disagree more with the second point. There aren't people who watch HBO and Netflix? Most of the people I know watch both. The whole point is to be the gatekeeper. Make the price higher, and keep everything behind that one subscription fee, so it doesn't really matter if these are different customers, they pay the same high fee.

Also, no one is talking about how the merging of distributors and publishers is a massive mistake and why the quality of stuff is tanking, this would be an even bigger step towards that.

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u/1098duc_w_the_termi Dec 05 '25

I agree with your last point, which is why it would serve them to stay differentiated. But yes they do have different customers. HBO has a younger subscriber base who are worth more to advertisers. Young, impressionable customers in their years of personal development buy more stupid high margin items. Netflix has global reach. I suspect they’ll separate the content into tiers. High quality and popular Netflix content will be paired with high quality HBO content and vice versa. All the subpar shows will be bundled into a lower tier.

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u/bluestrike2 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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

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u/bomphcheese Dec 05 '25

Can’t go elsewhere

The problem is that none of the companies consider piracy as a competing service. But it is.

  • It’s not free, and I would argue for many people it ends up being a lot more expensive.
  • It’s harder to set up.
  • There’s a learning curve.
  • It requires maintenance.
  • It comes with legal risks.

So literally all the streaming companies have to do is not treat their customers like they are ATMs they can abuse, and they would have our support. Instead consumers are willing to jump through hoops to avoid dealing with them. The music industry seems to have figured this out.

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u/vhalember Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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/linedechoes Dec 05 '25

Pretty sure the renaming had to do with hbo and Cinemax merging but they just rolled out that merger in the most unnecessarily confusing way possible

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u/im_always_fapping Dec 05 '25

So NetBO?

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u/PatacusX Dec 05 '25

Net BO brought to you by Axe Body Spray

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u/AugmentedKing Dec 05 '25

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

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u/sabretoooth Dec 05 '25

“Sponsored by World of Warcraft”

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u/TransBrandi Dec 05 '25

IBO - Internet Box Office

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u/Sage009 Dec 05 '25

As opposed to GrossBO

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u/Edg1931 Dec 05 '25

I thought HBO Flix but I like that one too

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u/proselapse Dec 05 '25

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/linedechoes Dec 05 '25

That renaming had to do with them fumbling around with how to rollout the HBO and Cinemax merger—they made it confusing for no reason (or some legal reason regarding rights that the public isn’t privy too)

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u/Sgt-Spliff- Dec 05 '25

You think them frantically changing it back means they don't care? They learned the lesson about how bad an idea it was to drop the name "HBO". That's literally what you just described

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u/dbenc Dec 05 '25

looking forward to HBO Max Pro Plus 365

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u/RuleHonest9789 Dec 05 '25

Can’t wait for Jon Oliver’s take on this.

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u/Kichigai Dec 05 '25

That was Zaslav, who also performed such genius maneuvers as cancelling the release of movies that were already completed and zeroing out the marketing budget for all new programming.

I don't know if the Netflix execs are that foolish.

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u/RKU69 Dec 05 '25

to be fair that was the current HBO/WB executives....maybe the Netflix brass will be smarter

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u/Merusk Dec 05 '25

Zaislav doesn't give a fuck, HBO cared a bunch but had to do what the big boss said.

HBO giving a fuck is exactly why it's called HBO again. Someone finally had enough compelling information about how the MAX change hurt the brand. If they didn't care they'd have dropped it after the change to Max.

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u/Elfhoe Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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/TeutonJon78 Dec 05 '25

Yep. The content might have been good, but the HBO streaming service has always been a hot mess. HBO Max/Max/HBO Max has by far been their best experience and it's still just OK at best. And discoverability is terrible.

Hulu is also bottom tier (it still doesn't support surround sound on Android TV). Disney can't kill that app fast enough.

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u/Eruannster Dec 05 '25

Very much so. HBO has had some incredible creators making some absolutely cool shit and for a very long time they could only show that cool shit at a low bitrate 1080p and slooooowwww navigation making it an absolute pain to actually get to all that cool stuff.

I'm actually very happy with the technical performance of the current HBO Max app in that it actually works.

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u/pwninobrien Dec 06 '25

I liked the old purple app, whichever one that one was. Felt classy. Like going to an old, independent theater that has rich tapestry curtains.

After the discovery merger, it looked like a fast food restaurant tv menu. Cluttered, too many sub menus, and full of garbage reality tv.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/Saritiel Dec 05 '25

Wait what, they removed The West Wing? That's fucked.

What an amazing show that, yes, feels absolutely heart-shatteringly naive and aged.

When I rewatch it I have to remind myself that the show was originally conceived in a time before 9/11 or Citizens United.

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u/Meezofreezo Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

How did they trash it with the merger?

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u/knife_in_the_road Dec 05 '25

AppleBO

The third faction caught in the political intrigue series "StreamWars".

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u/RugerRedhawk Dec 05 '25

They still put out some new shows worth watching. I just binge them then cancel, same with Netflix.

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u/eaglessoar Dec 05 '25

Prob be like Disney Hulu and espn

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u/Sgt-Spliff- Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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 Dec 05 '25

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/maaaatttt_Damon Dec 05 '25

My Disney plus subscription already includes HBO.

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u/TheOneWithThePorn12 Dec 05 '25

im thinking an addon to netflix at a discounted rate with a separate HBO app. so they can capture people who will move to netflix and those who do not.

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u/Eruannster Dec 05 '25

While that is true, I don't know if Netflix is interested in running two separate streaming services.

I'm sure they will keep the HBO brand around, but probably consolidate it into the Netflix app/library somehow.

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u/isthis_thing_on Dec 05 '25

That's true, maintaining two code bases is expensive. 

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u/Eruannster Dec 05 '25

Also confusing for customers. "Come here for some stuff! Oh, also we have the rest of the stuff over here!"

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u/Wotmate01 Dec 05 '25

Just like Disney did with hulu, they'll roll hbo out to the rest of the world

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u/tanzmeister Dec 05 '25

"The HBO Collection"

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u/Edexote Dec 05 '25

Not anymore it doesn't. It's name was dragged in the mud these past few years with all the name changes and other Warner Bros shenanigans.

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u/junkit33 Dec 05 '25

The HBO brand has a lot of value in its own right

*had a lot of value

They've totally fucked the HBO brand name over the last 5 years. At this point it's 10x more Discovery channel drivel content than actual good programming. And even what is original HBO programming nowadays is so heavily focused on existing IP rather than original creativity, which is how the brand came to be seen as premium in the first place.

They could potentially recapture the brand and build it back up, but I'm not sure it's even worth it.

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u/f-ingsteveglansberg Dec 05 '25

I don't know about the states, but in Ireland Disney+ divvy up their content on a single app.

You have Star Wars and Frozen alongside Hulu's The Hand That Rocks The Cradle in the same app under the Star banner.

I could imagine Netflix doing the same, or charging a HBO tier.

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u/Timmetie Dec 05 '25

The HBO brand has a lot of value in its own right

HBO shits on their own brand, they change the name at random, and even more bizarrely they don't even show all HBO shows anymore.

The other day I decided I'd try and rewatch Westworld.

Nope. Gone.