Becoming The Muse

The Streaming Wars: One Platform To Rule Them All

I had a weird dream, that Batman, was battling the deadly noseless duo of Vecna and Lord Voldemort in an Upside Down Gotham City…

Outlandish much? Well not really… Incase you missed it, in a move that feels less like a corporate acquisition and more like a supervillain origin story of the streaming wars, streaming platform Netflix is set to acquire Warner Bros for a whooping $82.7 Billion (that’s $72.0 Billion in Equity Value).

According to Netflix, this move will see them offer audiences, “more of what they love” through expanded libraries and efficiencies which come from adding the deep film and TV libraries and HBO and HBO Max programming into Netflix Libraries.

Maybe, this could reduce the number of times one searches for a title on Netflix, with it even helping to autocomplete the name, only for it to say, “Oh no! We don’t have that.”

With this deal, The Warner Bros catalogue would be available on Netflix, ending the streaming wars with Netflix the one streaming platform to rule them all… and in the darkness bind them.

If this deal closes, Netflix would be laughing all the way to the bank and maybe some Netflix subscribers may feel like they getting more choice and value for their money…

On the flip-side, there’s an argument that such a move is a textbook case of why antitrust laws exist: to prevent monopolies and behemoths that result in higher prices and fewer choices; and to regulate anti-competitive conduct.

Imagine Netflix owning such a vast portfolio and withholding it from their competitors like a digital Smaug sitting on a pile of IP, threatening and terrorising every other streaming platform to fall in line.

Netflix favours on-demand streaming over theatrical releases, which could mean a shrinkage in the cinematic universe. Not to mention that Netflix would have the capacity to churn out a whole lot of mindless entertainment, sequels, prequels and reboots no one asked for, while creativity quietly suffocates in the corner.

However Netflix counters that this merger, would actually result in more opportunities for the creative community and greater value for talent and the opportunity to work with beloved intellectual property… Can you imagine, the possibilities; the crossovers, the fanfiction that could be brought to life?

 A whole multiverse of content folded into the Netflix Cinematic Universe that would fit right in with a Black Mirror-coded-special and a Netflix Exclusive Documentary on the merger that ended the streaming wars.

What are your thoughts on this merger?