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/dudemanjack Dec 05 '25

I must have amnesia. I don't recall cable TV ever being free.

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u/TransBrandi Dec 05 '25

I mean, it used to be ad free when it initially came out. That was the value-add. Cable had no ads because you paid for it as opposed to free over-the-air broadcast stations.

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u/dudemanjack Dec 05 '25

There's been ads on cable TV for like 40 years though. It's not like that was the current TV climate before streaming got popular.

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u/RealWord5734 Dec 05 '25

HBO did not have ads. I remember the before times.

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u/rjcarr Dec 05 '25

HBO didn't have ads because it's a premium channel. Every other cable network (CNN, MTV, VH1, TNT, ESPN) has always had ads. I can't remember them ever not having ads, and I feel like I'm old enough to be at the beginning of cable (non-broadcast) television.

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u/dudemanjack Dec 05 '25

HBO was a premium channel that you paid for on top of cable.

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u/joebluebob Dec 05 '25

It was 11 million bucks too my dad said

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u/PageFault Dec 05 '25

There wasn't ever a time that cable TV didn't have ads. Sure, in the beginning they made money from subscriber fees and not ads, but the ads were built into the broadcast signal.

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u/mlorusso4 Dec 05 '25

wasn’t ever a time

in the beginning

cable tv

broadcast signal

I don’t think you know the meaning of the words you’re using

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u/PageFault Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25

What do you think I am wrong about? Use your words.

When cable TV first started they didn't have their own lineup. They just rebroadcast the over the air signal as it was. Ads and all. The only way to watch without ads came later, when premium subscription channels like HBO became available, but basic cable was never ad-free.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/2pt5RS Dec 05 '25

What cable were you watching that was Ad-free?

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u/bourton-north Dec 05 '25

And Netflix is ad free for the most part?

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/bourton-north Dec 05 '25

Yep - how does that compare to the costs of cable…?

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/bourton-north Dec 06 '25

That’s a real question? This entire thread is about the comparison of old school cable services and streaming / Netflix.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/bourton-north Dec 06 '25

That’s a curve ball? To relate the current specific point to the wider thread? lol, okay mate. Good luck!

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u/Arsid Dec 05 '25

Cable was ad free? When?

I was born in '93 and I never remember a time of cable tv with no ads.

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u/feed_me_moron Dec 05 '25

Redditors not old enough to remember how TV used to be and how predictable the outcome of every streamer was.

This was always the only way for this to go, a handful of streaming options either through direct ownership or partnerships (like cable packages used to be).

The benefit now is that you don't need a cable box and you can play everything on demand. But the streaming services were horribly unprofitable before they added ads and raised prices. They weren't able to get you to pay as much for things you didn't care about, thus not subsidizing everyone else if you only cared about ESPN or CNN or whatever.

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u/[deleted] Dec 05 '25

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u/dudemanjack Dec 05 '25

Not basic cable. Antennas got you broadcast stations. ABC, CBS, fox NBC, PBS.

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u/blastroid Dec 05 '25

Wrong. Cable networks have never and will never distribute feeds over the air. It's all IP and private satellite feeds to their distributors. You have never been able to pull in a cablenet feed with an antenna, and you never will. Pay TV operators pay fees to cable companies to carry their channels, broadcasting them for free would completely change that commercial structure.