Agreeing on what movie to watch is a big deal in my family. Everyone wants something different and when we finally agree on a movie… we often don’t have the platform. But, what if one platform had most movies?
Netflix Buys Warner Brothers
What is your favorite place to watch movies? For most the answer is Netflix. The leading streaming platform in the world has a whopping 301.6 million subscribers. Netflix has popular movies such as K Pop Demon Hunters and popular shows, Squid Game and Stranger Things. On December 5, Netflix announced their purchase of Warner Bros. This marks the start of a media empire. Netflix will add popular movie franchises such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. The reason? Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos explains that Warner Bros will, “give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”
How Does This Impact Our Streaming Services?
What does this mean for us? Will Warner Bros movies go on Netflix? Will the price of Netflix go up? Co-chief executive Greg Peters said that “it’s quite early to get into the specifics of how we’re going to tailor this offering for consumers.” Though he says that HBO Max (owned by Warner Bros.) brand is important to consumers. This means that HBO Max will likely stay a separate brand; Netflix will just own it.
This is slightly disappointing for us viewers with hopes of an all-movie platform. This also poses problems for some. The Writers Guild of America’s East and West thinks that this will take away jobs. When Netflix finishes the process or buying Warner Bros, they will have employees that can cover jobs for both positions. The Writers Guild believes that this merge must be blocked.
Recently, Paramount also put in a bid for Warner Bros. Law professor Tim Wu believes that neither Paramount or Netflix should buy Warner Bros. He states that, “David Ellison, the chief executive of Paramount, wants to build an evil media empire using his father’s money to gut CNN, which Warner Bros. Discovery owns.”
Whether good or bad this deal is an important event in the cinema world.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce91x2jm5pjo https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/internet/streaming-stats/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streaming_media_services https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/opinion/netflix-paramount-warner-bros.html