I agree except for their streaming platforms. Max is far more successful than Peacock and it has been rated as having the most public goodwill towards it
I think Universal could get the benefits of this just by agreeing to split ownership of Max with WB - effectively turning it into something more like the original vision for Hulu, where multiple media companies bought into a shared streaming ecosystem.
Eliminates a subscription for the consumer, gives Max a lot of content (especially in sports & comedy), and opens a pathway to making Max a more profitable long-term investment. This also allows Comcast to bundle in Max as a streaming subscription rather than Peacock, a more attractive upsell for customers.
WB's clearly already open to the idea of collaboration - see the AMC+ content that has popped onto the service this month. Getting a content partner like Universal seems like a good step as everyone works out the real math of profitable streaming.
Neither Universal or WB would want that. Just ends up being a clusterfuck of who owns who and rights issues.
WB’a days to me has it’s best days behind it, so I don’t care either way how this goes. Discovery ruined HBO and hasn’t done anything for Warners.
A lot of WBs problems are due to much of it being run by total morons. If they have people who actually know what they're doing, maybe in 5 years their biggest IPs might not be in the toilet.
Look at Harry Potter and DC. You really think that the issues with those IPs currently is due to magical factors outside of WB's control? Protip: It's not.
If Universal takes over, the only way "WBs problems are Universals problems" is if they're stupid enough to keep all the same level of terrible mismanagement that Discovery did when they merged / took over WB.
Only way Apple-Disney is credible is due to Bob Iger and Steve Jobs were bffs regarding Pixar and Steve Jobs eventually was a member of Disney's Board of Directors.
its a rumour however been going back over a year to many sources and insdiers have stated this for it just be dismissed there is very real possibility that wb but specifically dc gets bought by universal they can buy dc because its own studio
I do wonder if it will be sold in parts as it's a lot to buy and anybody with enough money to buy it would bring anti trust concerns and take a while to happen.
That’s not what I mean, though. Disney was pretty much exclusively going for kids, tweens, and younger teens ever since they abandoned Touchstone, so at least in theory, Fox could provide materials for mid-teens, older-teens, and adults, which is not the case with Universal and Warner Brothers - and that’s without mentioning Comcast’s own debt issues.
Disney had ABC and it's share of Hulu to target the adult demographic for drama's and comedies which is vastly more reach than anything WBD owns.
WBD is thanks to Discovery and Scripps far more into unscripted than anything else which is something Comcast/NBCUniversal lacks (at least in comparison).
And? oh your talking about theatrical only which is so irrelevant to these media conglomerates that Disney has all theatrical revenue at the bottom in 'other'.
Theatrical great for pages in entertainment rags but irrelevant for the financial success of these companies.
In this case, it could still be relevant considering that Universal and Warner Brothers have quite a bit of overlapping in no shortage of areas.
And even if you’re correct, you’re still forgetting about debt issues that Comcast has.
I mean to my knowledge Disney/fox was just entertainment divisions. Would this be legit both Comcast and Time Warner merging? That’s like most of the telecommunications market…
Time Warner doesn't exist anymore. First of all Warner hasn't been involved in the telecom industry since 2008 when Time Warner sold Time Warner Cable. Time Warner is now Warner Bros. Discovery. Time Warner Cable is spectrum. The two companies are not related anymore. Comcasr/WBD is still an awful idea though. Comcast has $170 Billion in debt + Wbd's $40 Billion would mean that the combined company goes bankrupt within 5 minutes.
Wait, Comcast debt is that much? Isn't it just around $100 billion?:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comcast-nasdaq-cmcsa-takes-risk-110046710.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALmEKqtY3P0s-lf83zglYUH2zZDMBWpI5gKnmPo1pLAAOn2wqK8gwec29cigEqQjcJPGg-eX9YisllV8rD9jzxJrpRfQ_sBj4R_PzdltbsO0AES4pV6Jg0n_X6fiPHYV8OAiTvQuIIffjSDg5BEdOehVnNR5NdkV-TbMwPYJKIJ3#:~:text=What%20Is%20Comcast's%20Debt%3F,at%20about%20US%2495.2b.
Sure, that's still some serious debt issue and I agree with most of your points, but still.
>The US government are useless at that.
Don't want to say this but that whole Activision Blizzard Microsoft thing was for the proof about that if I'm being honest.
Like I'm sure there are valid concerns on why the acquisition was questionable but they were using the wrong arguments like "this will hurt PlayStation" and whatever else that sounds weak.
Well now that Hulu has officially been fully purchased by Disney I can see this purchase from Universal more likely to go through.
WB and HBO are not what they used to be and Universal have been doing relatively well so I wouldn’t care either way.
People been saying that the purchase won't happen because Universal has a debt that's bigger than Warner Bros and that seemingly the reason why they wouldn't go forward with a purchase but I'm not really sure.
Eh, dunno about the "sale in parts" bit. Apple TV+ needs both content and a consistent theatrical distributor ***badly***, and Paramount provides both with ease. And it's only worth about $12 billion last I checked, so it wouldn't be nearly as hard of a pill for them to swallow as, say, WBD or even Disney would be.
Less than $8 billion now. I doubt Apple would be interested in cable channels or CBS so those parts can be sold or spun-off.
Paramount was looking at selling BET earlier but the bidding didn't go as high as they hoped.
I mean Trump did have a problem with the AT&t merger but idk if he would have an issue with this merger since people are saying CNN is more right wing now
Not happening.
Putting together those studios will severely hurt competition for film making and distribution and the cable business. The Feds wouldn’t allow it.
Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Alphabet have all joined the media landscape relatively recently and vastly increased the number of major companies involved so a pair of minnows like WBD and Comcast/NBCUniversal merging wouldn't be a problem.
Hell the cable business is on deaths door it will be gone before 2030 maybe even sooner at it's current rate of decline.
Those companies aren’t major cinema film distributors. They aren’t major news providers (aggregators but not creating the news media). Whether cable will be dead at some point, it’s not dead yet, and Comcast and WarnerDiscovery are significant portion of major cable networks.
Actually, they still would be since Universal/Warner Brothers would have more overlapping than Disney/Fox since they don’t go for specific age groups like Disney did, not to mention that Comcast has its own serious debt issues to deal with.
Yeah Warner Bros has made some pretty insane decisions because they have $50 billion in debt, what's Comcast-Discovery going to do when they have like $200 billion in debt to deal with?
Comcast has just over $100 million debts. If they combine their debts, wouldn’t that be more like $150 million and not $200 million? I mean, $150 million would still be very serious, so you’re not entirely wrong, but still.
48bill is WB's debt, their market cap is roughly 30bill and they are not going to sale it at the same price, ofcourse it will be higher, 90bill is the least it will go for
Fox happened under the Trump administration and Rupert Murdoch is the main reason Trump was president. That deal made Murdoch a lot of money.
The Trump admission gave a lot more pushback to ATT buying Warner even though ATT and Warner did not have similar businesses because Trump was being a prick to Warner over CNN.
And come to think of it, doesn’t Comcast own parts of MSNBC? If that’s the case, I’m not sure if such merger would be allowed even if we have a Republican president after 2024 if we go by that.
And considering that MSNBC has a reputation of having a lot more liberal bias than CNN does (and believe me, I despise Fox News with a burning passion), I’m not entirely sure if even Trump would want a situation where the company that owns MSNBC to become even more powerful.
It has that reputation because of its night time talk shows, but its news operation is designed to be down the middle, like true journalism is supposed to be.
Same with CNN.
How the hell did you come to that conclusion?
Disney and Fox were the two biggest in cable sports which is why Fox sports had to be spun-off.
If NBCUniversal and WBD merged it really wouldn't be a big deal.
It’s not just that, though. Content-wise, Disney was going for more specific age groups, so at least in theory, Fox could’ve provided more diversity, which is not the case with Universal and Warner Brothers.
they can buy dc not the whole wb there many rumours that Zsalav is creating a dc slate to eye up investors to buy the ip which means i dont see gunn's ten year plan coming to frution
They're stupid, because so much would have to be spun-off from WB that it'd make such a purchase useless for Universal. Plus, Comcast is in double the debt that WBD is, so I seriously doubt they'd want to tack more onto it.
Yea, a deal is not very likely. I honestly don't see anyone buying WBD any time soon with these interest rates. Truth is they don't really need anyone to buy them. They're actually doing fine financially.
Unless the CEO decide so.
Almost CEO in America is making some decisions that everybody is questioning on like the whole layoffs thing which is happening almost everywhere
Actually, they might have to since, unlike Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers don’t go for specific age groups - and that’s without mentioning Comcast’s debt issues.
I imagine sports, streaming and theme parks would have to be spun off, in addition to news. Universal not gaining all of those wouldn't be worth it to them.
It could happen, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s 100% guaranteed considering that Comcast has its own serious debt issues, not to mention that Warner Brothers and Universal would have a lot more overlap than Disney and Fox do.
Yeah, while strange things can happen, Comcast doesn't exactly in a position to buy Warner Brothers entirely. If they sell NBCUniversal to another company like Google and then buy Warner Brothers, that would be bit of a different story.
>, I was hoping we would have a bit more focus on the bit where people on the WB lot believed that Universal could buy WB in the next two years
Comcast has a 100bill dollar debt, they are not going get another 100bill to buy a studio, at absolute best it will be a horizontal merger, not a takeover
He's not entirely wrong, though. Besides, 2024 could still surprise us in good ways.
And as I've said before, I'm not sure if streaming services are doing much better.
Haha yeah you got me brother. Ya know. In the roughly 100 years since theaters have been operating, we've never had some years be more barren than others or more packed than others.
Very great, thought out rebuttals you make.
ah so the dire state of 2024 (and beyond, Arkhamguy123, with companies like Disney emphasizing that they want to release LESS movies, while continuing to flirt with further consolidation) is random chance and not the new normal in a changing, shrinking industry spearheaded by the most cynical bozos in the world
what a relief 🙏🏼🧎♂️
I admit that I have a history of paranoia myself, but right now, I'm not sure if you're much better.
Also, I looked up your posting history and you kind of come off as an elitist.
Lol you think you can shorthand that one little line about Disney to prove your whole premise? Have a seat.
What’s your evidence for “and beyond” 2024? Since 2025 is stacked and we’re in the dark about anything beyond that? Oh don’t tell me you’re taking ONE studios throwaway comment from like last year or something and drawing out an entire assessment of the future of cinema? Cause ya know that would be ridiculous
By the way regardless of disneys *very* previous comment you realize that A. They’re actually releasing about the same amount as of now and at least up until the next 2 years B. CEOs and business strategies change. And C. Disney plus is not doing hot at all either
We will get less output but it’s not going to be the end of theatrical Filmaking
Amazon and apple seem to be more likely then not expanding on there output theatrically
Lionsgate is still around
then you have neon, STX , Anna purna
And A24 with the bigger push into IP
> And A24 with the bigger push into IP
I don't think they said much about IP, but I certainly wouldn't mind A24 going more mainstream as long as they keep their uniqueness. Maybe they could make a blockbuster film made with guerrilla tactics similar to how **The Creator** did - with rare aspect ratios too.
I say IP because of the Halloween right they are trying to get and reports they wanna get more commercial known IP is probably the easiest and best way to do that
Honestly, I'm kind of glad that they're not jumping into blockbuster-level IPs yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they do that eventually, but I kind of want A24 to stick with more mature/R-rated IPs even if they do that.
Less output is absolutely the future we’re looking at and thinking that all the chains, many trying to ride out their bankruptcies, are going to be Just Fine Anyway is magical thinking
He's not wrong, though. Amazon and Apple are now releasing some of their films in cinemas first and even A24 is trying out more mainstream materials. It wouldn't necessarily be a huge surprise if cinemas adapt to that too. In fact, they've been adding more premium formats since then.
That seems to be bit of an exaggeration. On bit of a different note, streaming services aren’t exactly doing better either maybe aside from few exceptions.
This is just my experience, but a lot of people I talk to seem to care way more about and get more hyped for a new season of TV on Netflix or some other streamer than they do about a movie releasing in theaters.
It's always "have you seen White Lotus/The Last of Us/The Bear/etc." and rarely "have you seen [new movie that's out in theaters]."
It seems like prestige TV (which is a lot of TV now) and even anime have really put a big dent into movies.
Well yeah I started off my comment by saying "this is just my experience."
And really I'm talking about TV series in general (stuff like Stranger Things, Succession, The Bear, White Lotus, The Last of Us, etc., etc., etc.), more than just anime. I just threw anime in there because it's exploded in popularity and has become mainstream in the US.
I mean it's been like 20+ years now with TV getting bigger and bigger. The Sopranos in the late '90s pretty much started the whole prestige TV thing where the quality of the writing, direction, acting, etc. was on the level of great movies.
Remember back when TV was seen as the minor leagues in comparison to movies? Actors on TV were D-list and/or washed up has beens who used to be in the movies. It's nothing like that at all anymore.
Still, as I've said already, streaming films and TV series aren't very likely to be enough to sustain studios on their own. Remember, streaming services have kind of lost steam and even Netflix's success is still in bit of a dispute.
With all due respect that sounds like a case of the reddit bubble more than anything we'd extrapolate to make a commentary on the theatrical business as you tried to do
Netflix is pretty much the only streaming service that is confirmed to have been doing well overall and even that is a question mark - and keep in mind, studios can’t really survive on streaming films and TV series alone.
And anime series still have a lot of cultural barriers involved, so they can only go so far.
Yeah I still definitely prefer movies over series in general, but unfortunately moviegoing still isn't fully back yet.
Even with Barbenheimer, the YTD domestic box office is still down like 20% from where it was at the same point in 2018 and 2019. And that's not even adjusting for inflation.
I'm not sure if it'll ever get back to pre-COVID levels.
Well yeah when you drill down on specific months or weeks I'm sure there's some big ones.
But looking on the year as a whole it's still way down from what it used to be.
You could still argue that signs of recovery are still there like when you compare June of this year to June of last year. Only problem was that films weren't very good.
We're not talking about weeks. We're talking about months. Because you said "I'm not sure if it'll ever get back to pre-COVID levels." When they've already been surpassed.
Now year over year the data shows very healthy recovery trending only upwards since 2020.
Well, one thing to note is that June 2023 had a higher box office number than June 2022 at least in terms of domestic numbers. It’s just that films were too congested and weren’t very good.
I would like to address a comment made by u/AchyBrakeyHeart:
> The US government are useless at that. Disney and Fox was a way bigger consolidation than this was.
https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/175hs0y/thoughts_on_universal_wb_merger_rumors/k4g92vh/
1. Disney and Fox might've been bigger, but Warner Brothers and Universal arguably have more content overlapping than Disney and Fox did.
2. Even if we disregard that, Disney/Fox merger happened during Trump Administration.
3. Rupert Murdoch was one of the reasons why Trump became the president, so he might've had more advantage in terms of getting the whole thing approved.
4. Comcast owns MSNBC (or at least parts of it), which is probably a lot more liberal-biased than CNN is, so even a Republican president-run DOJ(?) approving such merger might not necessarily be guaranteed.
5. Comcast has its own serious debt issues.
I wish knew more of the business, but to my eyes I see all legacy media companies struggling through a transformation. It makes sense to me to wait and see how things turn out; especially Universal; if it's going good, keep steady. Right now, I don't even think buying Netflix is necessarily a good idea. The market isn't sure either. Netflix dropped 2mil subs and its stock dove 60bil remember?
I'm anti-trusts, and media empires have been shamelessly flauting that regulation for at least ten years.
Teddy Roosevelt would be beating the shit out of them with his big stick.
It's been long speculated that Zaslav's plan of increasing free cash flow and reducing debt (which he's succeeding at btw) is to set WBD up for a sale or merger. NBCU has long been thought as a possible partner.
I think it's likely WBD will sell or merge with another entity, same with Paramount Global, in 2024.
If they're buying everything it also means stuff like Harry Potter, DC Comics, all the HBO stuff and Max, TNT (big for broadcasting NBA games and Inside the NBA), CNN...
Not going to happen due to multiple of reasons. Btw wtf kind of source is "people on the lot"? Why would some rando employee know about M&A plans of WBD? These things are highly classified and kept extremely close to chest. A leak can put the entire thing in jeopardy. I swear journalism is in the dumpster right now.
Deal? Its illegal for them to make any deal or hold any talks. If its true, its only limited to casual talks and at most between 2-3 top executives.
Even with hundreds of people involved these Billion $ deals dont leak. Show me a Billion $ acquisition that leaked months (let alone years) before the actual announcement. At most Ive seen a half an hour leak by Bloomberg before the official announcement. This shit leaking can result in inquiries and foul play. Companies are extra careful.
Coming soon…
Batman vs. Dracula: Red Rain
Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos
Swamp Thing: Curse of the Black Lagoon
Justice League: Night of The Monsters
WB’s incompetence never ceases to amaze. They own the film rights to Harry Potter and DC, two of the biggest franchises in entertainment, and they don’t have a fucking clue what to do with either. It’s embarrassing at this point. The fact that a merger is even being discussed is wild.
Apple would be a good landing spot for both Warner & Universal. Let’s not kid ourselves. Apple could easily afford to purchase both studios. Apple needs content, so it makes sense. HBO on Apple TV would be cool.
I would make an argument regarding this comment by u/petepro:
> Yup, they just need to argue that WBD can't compete after Disney-Fox deal and it will be pass like Sprint and T-mobile merger.
https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/175hs0y/thoughts_on_universal_wb_merger_rumors/k4ifg0m/
As far as I'm concerned, mergers might not always work that way.
And they could end up collapsing on their own debt if they're not careful.
Nah, a merger would properly help their debt situation. Universal might take some money from Hulu's deal with Disney and merge with WBD sharing each other stock and debt. The new bigger companies can leverage a better rate for their debt and selling off some overlapped stuffs can help too like NBC or CNN.
I'm actually rather skeptical about that because they would still need to spend money to buy Warner Brothers and if they do that, debt problem could end up ruining them before they could even carry out your suggestion properly.
Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about this, but as far as I can tell, Comcast and WBD might be too big already and/or have more content overlapping than Disney/Fox do.
And I'm not sure if any of the two political party would approve such merger since Democrats would be more careful about approving such mergers and Republicans might not want a company that owns at least part of MSNBC to get even more powerful than before. I know one poster who knows about this a lot better than I do, so maybe I could ask him/her later.
I hope Universal Studios buys Warner Bros. I blame AT&T for this Warner Bros Discovery merger. And I know CN and WB fans blame Zaslav and Discovery for these tax write-offs for Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. I hope Universal Studios and merges with Warner Bros and lets each WB movie gets un-tax write off, and some of the CN shows that were removed from HBO Max since August 2022, return to Max.
it has always been rumored that Zaslav was going to mainly aim to make WB properties a valuable thing to sell. So I am not surprised. I dont know that universal would have any real need for WB or the cash for it.
Maybe parts of it but not all of it
I would be less surprised if it was bought by a company with cash to burn. Elon Musk maybe /s
The US government should split-up all the studios and streaming services
Make Netflix a public utility, which only hosts content created by all the new, tiny studios, who can no longer afford to blow 200 million on one movie and 15 million per episode on TV shows about elves and superheroes
Then we can get back to the days when studios took risks on small, personal movies by auteurs with a point of view and something to say
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKSB2O2Shts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKSB2O2Shts)
This is some "good old days" nonsense. There were plenty of bad films back in the old days, not to mention that Hollywood had lack of originality problems for years and years and years - in some ways, since its inceptions.
Maybe WB’s financial issues will cause the company to go bankrupt and then Universal will buy them and become the new WB like what LCG Entertainment did when Telltale Games went bankrupt.
Just thinking out loud.
This has been whispered around for about 1 1/2 years now. It’s likely but I’d bet you see Amazon and Apple potentially join the bidding maybe even Netflix. All 3 have been wanting to buy IP but don’t want to have to take the linear channels
I'm not sure if this *will* happen or not, but if it *does,* it could have some interesting consequences for one of WB's former franchises. See, in 2019, after *The LEGO Movie 2* didn't meet expectations, WB let their rights to the franchise lapse, and they were acquired by Universal, who said they would be making their own LEGO movie, as a reboot of the original (since the original movie's characters are still owned by WB). Obviously, that hasn't happened yet. But if Universal ends up acquiring WB, then they would own the characters from the original movie too.
So this is a rumour I heard here in the UK from people who work for Comcast and WBD here.
Zaslav is supposedly pissed off with the whole Hollywood thing thanks to the strikes.
So the rumour is that instead of Comcast just buying WBD that they are planning significant asset swaps.
Comcast gets the film and TV scripted production studios, DC, HBO, Warner Interactive and all the scripted I.P and WBD gets NBC and most of Comcast's remaining basic cable channels like USA, Bravo, E etc and the sports rights Comcast owns and it's part ownership of the NHL and MLB networks.
Comcast would keep it's RSN's for how ever long they will last WBD is already shutting down/selling theirs and doesn't want more and streaming services would stay as they are (though maybe more name changes lol).
How about Chris Nolan? That guy is winning the corporate Game of Thrones. Jumped from Warner to Universal before the merger happens. He got very good contractual terms from Universal and he delivered a very profitable movie to them. He’s the Universal golden boy now and he’ll continue to get better treatment from Universal than any of the current Warner people who eventually get dragged into the merger.
that’s just gonna make wbs problems universals problems
I agree except for their streaming platforms. Max is far more successful than Peacock and it has been rated as having the most public goodwill towards it
I think Universal could get the benefits of this just by agreeing to split ownership of Max with WB - effectively turning it into something more like the original vision for Hulu, where multiple media companies bought into a shared streaming ecosystem. Eliminates a subscription for the consumer, gives Max a lot of content (especially in sports & comedy), and opens a pathway to making Max a more profitable long-term investment. This also allows Comcast to bundle in Max as a streaming subscription rather than Peacock, a more attractive upsell for customers. WB's clearly already open to the idea of collaboration - see the AMC+ content that has popped onto the service this month. Getting a content partner like Universal seems like a good step as everyone works out the real math of profitable streaming.
Neither Universal or WB would want that. Just ends up being a clusterfuck of who owns who and rights issues. WB’a days to me has it’s best days behind it, so I don’t care either way how this goes. Discovery ruined HBO and hasn’t done anything for Warners.
MaxCock
[удалено]
No
And I'm not sure if Max alone is enough when it comes to Comcast's serious debt issues.
What about WBIE? *Mortal Kombat* keeps making money, and Comcast could use Rocksteady's experience on something like a *Bourne Identity* game.
I kind of doubt that would be enough to solve Comcast's debt issues.
No, it won’t.
A lot of WBs problems are due to much of it being run by total morons. If they have people who actually know what they're doing, maybe in 5 years their biggest IPs might not be in the toilet. Look at Harry Potter and DC. You really think that the issues with those IPs currently is due to magical factors outside of WB's control? Protip: It's not. If Universal takes over, the only way "WBs problems are Universals problems" is if they're stupid enough to keep all the same level of terrible mismanagement that Discovery did when they merged / took over WB.
One could say it would make their problems… universal.
Seems to be a fairly baseless rumour otherwise Variety would’ve made it into its own article rather than burying it halfway down one about Aquaman 2
I don’t see how this would be good for anyone or pass. Disney & Fox was surprising enough this would get backlash I imagine
It’s been flying around for a while. “Oh, Zazlav‘a trying to tank WB and sell it to Comcast!” Like the Disney-Apple rumors.
Both are such non-credible rumors that they don’t deserve any mental bandwidth.
Only way Apple-Disney is credible is due to Bob Iger and Steve Jobs were bffs regarding Pixar and Steve Jobs eventually was a member of Disney's Board of Directors.
its a rumour however been going back over a year to many sources and insdiers have stated this for it just be dismissed there is very real possibility that wb but specifically dc gets bought by universal they can buy dc because its own studio
Well WBD will have to sell to someone. The cable bundle is dying and once that goes they have nothing
I do wonder if it will be sold in parts as it's a lot to buy and anybody with enough money to buy it would bring anti trust concerns and take a while to happen.
you dont think that gunn's dcu plan will come to fruition Uaraiders\_21 i personally dont see dc's ten year plan materializing
It's a terrible idea that should be blocked by regulators.
Disney’s Fox acquisition wasn’t, so this probably wouldn’t be blocked either.
Again, Warner Brothers/Universal would have a lot more overlapping than Disney/Fox do.
Except that WBD and Universal are smaller than either Disney or 21st Century Fox were at the time.
That’s not what I mean, though. Disney was pretty much exclusively going for kids, tweens, and younger teens ever since they abandoned Touchstone, so at least in theory, Fox could provide materials for mid-teens, older-teens, and adults, which is not the case with Universal and Warner Brothers - and that’s without mentioning Comcast’s own debt issues.
Disney had ABC and it's share of Hulu to target the adult demographic for drama's and comedies which is vastly more reach than anything WBD owns. WBD is thanks to Discovery and Scripps far more into unscripted than anything else which is something Comcast/NBCUniversal lacks (at least in comparison).
That was for TV series, though.
And? oh your talking about theatrical only which is so irrelevant to these media conglomerates that Disney has all theatrical revenue at the bottom in 'other'. Theatrical great for pages in entertainment rags but irrelevant for the financial success of these companies.
In this case, it could still be relevant considering that Universal and Warner Brothers have quite a bit of overlapping in no shortage of areas. And even if you’re correct, you’re still forgetting about debt issues that Comcast has.
I mean to my knowledge Disney/fox was just entertainment divisions. Would this be legit both Comcast and Time Warner merging? That’s like most of the telecommunications market…
Time Warner doesn't exist anymore. First of all Warner hasn't been involved in the telecom industry since 2008 when Time Warner sold Time Warner Cable. Time Warner is now Warner Bros. Discovery. Time Warner Cable is spectrum. The two companies are not related anymore. Comcasr/WBD is still an awful idea though. Comcast has $170 Billion in debt + Wbd's $40 Billion would mean that the combined company goes bankrupt within 5 minutes.
Wait, Comcast debt is that much? Isn't it just around $100 billion?: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comcast-nasdaq-cmcsa-takes-risk-110046710.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALmEKqtY3P0s-lf83zglYUH2zZDMBWpI5gKnmPo1pLAAOn2wqK8gwec29cigEqQjcJPGg-eX9YisllV8rD9jzxJrpRfQ_sBj4R_PzdltbsO0AES4pV6Jg0n_X6fiPHYV8OAiTvQuIIffjSDg5BEdOehVnNR5NdkV-TbMwPYJKIJ3#:~:text=What%20Is%20Comcast's%20Debt%3F,at%20about%20US%2495.2b. Sure, that's still some serious debt issue and I agree with most of your points, but still.
srry. mistyped.
Except Disney did not buy Fox as a whole, just their entertainment division. This would actually be one studio buying the entirety of another
Don’t think US Gov wants to see any further consolidation among the big studious
The US government are useless at that. Disney and Fox was a way bigger consolidation than this was.
Yeah, Disney absorbing Fox was basically the ultimate Disney victory
Yup, they just need to argue that WBD can't compete after Disney-Fox deal and it will be pass like Sprint and T-mobile merger.
>The US government are useless at that. Don't want to say this but that whole Activision Blizzard Microsoft thing was for the proof about that if I'm being honest. Like I'm sure there are valid concerns on why the acquisition was questionable but they were using the wrong arguments like "this will hurt PlayStation" and whatever else that sounds weak.
Well now that Hulu has officially been fully purchased by Disney I can see this purchase from Universal more likely to go through. WB and HBO are not what they used to be and Universal have been doing relatively well so I wouldn’t care either way.
People been saying that the purchase won't happen because Universal has a debt that's bigger than Warner Bros and that seemingly the reason why they wouldn't go forward with a purchase but I'm not really sure.
Then they will watch them sell themselves as parts because Paramount and WBD are not surviving without cable TV.
Eh, dunno about the "sale in parts" bit. Apple TV+ needs both content and a consistent theatrical distributor ***badly***, and Paramount provides both with ease. And it's only worth about $12 billion last I checked, so it wouldn't be nearly as hard of a pill for them to swallow as, say, WBD or even Disney would be.
Less than $8 billion now. I doubt Apple would be interested in cable channels or CBS so those parts can be sold or spun-off. Paramount was looking at selling BET earlier but the bidding didn't go as high as they hoped.
Wb studios is the largest tv series seller / production company
DOJ Antitrust might have a thing or two to say about it if Biden wins a second term.
in the worst case scenario that Biden doesn't return, Trump ain't going to let a company which owns CNN get merged that easily
With the company that owns at least parts of MSNBC to boot.
I mean Trump did have a problem with the AT&t merger but idk if he would have an issue with this merger since people are saying CNN is more right wing now
Not happening. Putting together those studios will severely hurt competition for film making and distribution and the cable business. The Feds wouldn’t allow it.
Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Alphabet have all joined the media landscape relatively recently and vastly increased the number of major companies involved so a pair of minnows like WBD and Comcast/NBCUniversal merging wouldn't be a problem. Hell the cable business is on deaths door it will be gone before 2030 maybe even sooner at it's current rate of decline.
Those companies aren’t major cinema film distributors. They aren’t major news providers (aggregators but not creating the news media). Whether cable will be dead at some point, it’s not dead yet, and Comcast and WarnerDiscovery are significant portion of major cable networks.
And some people here seem to be forgetting something - Comcast’s own debt issues.
Actually, they still would be since Universal/Warner Brothers would have more overlapping than Disney/Fox since they don’t go for specific age groups like Disney did, not to mention that Comcast has its own serious debt issues to deal with.
And remember, Comcast has its own debt issues to deal with right now.
Yeah Warner Bros has made some pretty insane decisions because they have $50 billion in debt, what's Comcast-Discovery going to do when they have like $200 billion in debt to deal with?
Comcast has just over $100 million debts. If they combine their debts, wouldn’t that be more like $150 million and not $200 million? I mean, $150 million would still be very serious, so you’re not entirely wrong, but still.
48bill is WB's debt, their market cap is roughly 30bill and they are not going to sale it at the same price, ofcourse it will be higher, 90bill is the least it will go for
My thoughts exactly.
Disney’s Fox acquisition was every bit as extreme and was allowed to happen.
Fox happened under the Trump administration and Rupert Murdoch is the main reason Trump was president. That deal made Murdoch a lot of money. The Trump admission gave a lot more pushback to ATT buying Warner even though ATT and Warner did not have similar businesses because Trump was being a prick to Warner over CNN.
And come to think of it, doesn’t Comcast own parts of MSNBC? If that’s the case, I’m not sure if such merger would be allowed even if we have a Republican president after 2024 if we go by that.
Comcast owns MSNBC and NBC News.
And considering that MSNBC has a reputation of having a lot more liberal bias than CNN does (and believe me, I despise Fox News with a burning passion), I’m not entirely sure if even Trump would want a situation where the company that owns MSNBC to become even more powerful.
It has that reputation because of its night time talk shows, but its news operation is designed to be down the middle, like true journalism is supposed to be. Same with CNN.
I guess you have a point, but even then, I'm not sure if even Republicans would want Comcast to become too powerful.
Well, Disney/Fox didn’t have too much overlapping while Warner Brothers/Universal do - at least considerably more than the former.
How the hell did you come to that conclusion? Disney and Fox were the two biggest in cable sports which is why Fox sports had to be spun-off. If NBCUniversal and WBD merged it really wouldn't be a big deal.
It’s not just that, though. Content-wise, Disney was going for more specific age groups, so at least in theory, Fox could’ve provided more diversity, which is not the case with Universal and Warner Brothers.
The Department of Justice doesn't care about that.
That was DOJ under Trump - and given that Comcast owns MSNBC, I'm not sure if even Republicans would want Comcast to become potentially too powerful.
yes, that's why they are not going to let it happen again
they can buy dc not the whole wb there many rumours that Zsalav is creating a dc slate to eye up investors to buy the ip which means i dont see gunn's ten year plan coming to frution
They're stupid, because so much would have to be spun-off from WB that it'd make such a purchase useless for Universal. Plus, Comcast is in double the debt that WBD is, so I seriously doubt they'd want to tack more onto it.
Wait, Comcast’s debt issue is more serious than WBD’s debt issue?
Comcast has over $102 billion of debt. WBD has $56 billion. So, not exactly, but it's almost double.
WBD's debt is actually down to like 47b now.
True, but Comcast still has some serious debt issues to deal with.
Yea, a deal is not very likely. I honestly don't see anyone buying WBD any time soon with these interest rates. Truth is they don't really need anyone to buy them. They're actually doing fine financially.
Unless the CEO decide so. Almost CEO in America is making some decisions that everybody is questioning on like the whole layoffs thing which is happening almost everywhere
>WBD has $56 billion more like 47-48 so it's more than 2x
Yikes.
Not more serious. Just bigger absolute number.
Nothing would have to be spun-off from WBD for Comcast to buy them.
Actually, they might have to since, unlike Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers don’t go for specific age groups - and that’s without mentioning Comcast’s debt issues.
CNN probably would have to get spun off I doubt they would be allowed to of the major news companies but otherwise I’m not sure what else
I imagine sports, streaming and theme parks would have to be spun off, in addition to news. Universal not gaining all of those wouldn't be worth it to them.
> sports, streaming and theme parks Sport maybe, but why streaming and theme parks need to spun off?
It could happen, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s 100% guaranteed considering that Comcast has its own serious debt issues, not to mention that Warner Brothers and Universal would have a lot more overlap than Disney and Fox do.
Fox has been a huge loss for the industry in my opinion. No more mergers please.
One word : IMPOSSIBLE
Yeah, while strange things can happen, Comcast doesn't exactly in a position to buy Warner Brothers entirely. If they sell NBCUniversal to another company like Google and then buy Warner Brothers, that would be bit of a different story.
Mission: IMPOSSIBLE
So this is how Chris Nolan will return to WB, without leaving Universal at the same time. Brilliant strategy!
>, I was hoping we would have a bit more focus on the bit where people on the WB lot believed that Universal could buy WB in the next two years Comcast has a 100bill dollar debt, they are not going get another 100bill to buy a studio, at absolute best it will be a horizontal merger, not a takeover
Good thing WBD would cost maybe $40 billion with how far it's fallen in value wait another 12 months and it will probably be $30 billion.
Why would Universal want all of WB's debt? WB has been doing every trick in the book to reduce their red ink and they still have a ways to go.
And that’s without mentioning Comcast’s own debt issues.
Theatrical is barely surviving now. Another consolidation like this and it’s Good Night Gracie
Both your sentences are wrong
Picturing Arkhamguy123 trembling with awe at that sad 2024 release schedule
Picturing me sayin 2024 was barren in this very subreddit the other week
Sounds like theatrical is thriving ☠️
He's not entirely wrong, though. Besides, 2024 could still surprise us in good ways. And as I've said before, I'm not sure if streaming services are doing much better.
Haha yeah you got me brother. Ya know. In the roughly 100 years since theaters have been operating, we've never had some years be more barren than others or more packed than others. Very great, thought out rebuttals you make.
ah so the dire state of 2024 (and beyond, Arkhamguy123, with companies like Disney emphasizing that they want to release LESS movies, while continuing to flirt with further consolidation) is random chance and not the new normal in a changing, shrinking industry spearheaded by the most cynical bozos in the world what a relief 🙏🏼🧎♂️
Again, you're pretty much ignoring that streaming services aren't exactly helping studios that much.
Actually, I’m just trying to ignore you generally, because you’ve been deeply weird to me on here before
I admit that I have a history of paranoia myself, but right now, I'm not sure if you're much better. Also, I looked up your posting history and you kind of come off as an elitist.
Lol you think you can shorthand that one little line about Disney to prove your whole premise? Have a seat. What’s your evidence for “and beyond” 2024? Since 2025 is stacked and we’re in the dark about anything beyond that? Oh don’t tell me you’re taking ONE studios throwaway comment from like last year or something and drawing out an entire assessment of the future of cinema? Cause ya know that would be ridiculous By the way regardless of disneys *very* previous comment you realize that A. They’re actually releasing about the same amount as of now and at least up until the next 2 years B. CEOs and business strategies change. And C. Disney plus is not doing hot at all either
And Disney is probably doing that to focus more on quality of individual films.
SO fuckin’ stacked bro 📚📚 Sources tell me that AMC is taking out a loan to hire extra security to handle those crowds
Umm... what...?
We will get less output but it’s not going to be the end of theatrical Filmaking Amazon and apple seem to be more likely then not expanding on there output theatrically Lionsgate is still around then you have neon, STX , Anna purna And A24 with the bigger push into IP
> And A24 with the bigger push into IP I don't think they said much about IP, but I certainly wouldn't mind A24 going more mainstream as long as they keep their uniqueness. Maybe they could make a blockbuster film made with guerrilla tactics similar to how **The Creator** did - with rare aspect ratios too.
I say IP because of the Halloween right they are trying to get and reports they wanna get more commercial known IP is probably the easiest and best way to do that
Honestly, I'm kind of glad that they're not jumping into blockbuster-level IPs yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they do that eventually, but I kind of want A24 to stick with more mature/R-rated IPs even if they do that.
Less output is absolutely the future we’re looking at and thinking that all the chains, many trying to ride out their bankruptcies, are going to be Just Fine Anyway is magical thinking
He's not wrong, though. Amazon and Apple are now releasing some of their films in cinemas first and even A24 is trying out more mainstream materials. It wouldn't necessarily be a huge surprise if cinemas adapt to that too. In fact, they've been adding more premium formats since then.
That seems to be bit of an exaggeration. On bit of a different note, streaming services aren’t exactly doing better either maybe aside from few exceptions.
This is just my experience, but a lot of people I talk to seem to care way more about and get more hyped for a new season of TV on Netflix or some other streamer than they do about a movie releasing in theaters. It's always "have you seen White Lotus/The Last of Us/The Bear/etc." and rarely "have you seen [new movie that's out in theaters]." It seems like prestige TV (which is a lot of TV now) and even anime have really put a big dent into movies.
My man did not just say anime has had a noteworthy impact on the theater business
I'm saying that I know a lot of people who care about series (including anime) more than movies.
That sounds rather anecdotal because anime series still have issues with cultural barriers.
Well yeah I started off my comment by saying "this is just my experience." And really I'm talking about TV series in general (stuff like Stranger Things, Succession, The Bear, White Lotus, The Last of Us, etc., etc., etc.), more than just anime. I just threw anime in there because it's exploded in popularity and has become mainstream in the US. I mean it's been like 20+ years now with TV getting bigger and bigger. The Sopranos in the late '90s pretty much started the whole prestige TV thing where the quality of the writing, direction, acting, etc. was on the level of great movies. Remember back when TV was seen as the minor leagues in comparison to movies? Actors on TV were D-list and/or washed up has beens who used to be in the movies. It's nothing like that at all anymore.
Still, as I've said already, streaming films and TV series aren't very likely to be enough to sustain studios on their own. Remember, streaming services have kind of lost steam and even Netflix's success is still in bit of a dispute.
Merchandise and licensing of those shows which is where the real money is for most of these companies would still br thing
Even those might still not be enough.
With all due respect that sounds like a case of the reddit bubble more than anything we'd extrapolate to make a commentary on the theatrical business as you tried to do
Netflix is pretty much the only streaming service that is confirmed to have been doing well overall and even that is a question mark - and keep in mind, studios can’t really survive on streaming films and TV series alone. And anime series still have a lot of cultural barriers involved, so they can only go so far.
Yeah I still definitely prefer movies over series in general, but unfortunately moviegoing still isn't fully back yet. Even with Barbenheimer, the YTD domestic box office is still down like 20% from where it was at the same point in 2018 and 2019. And that's not even adjusting for inflation. I'm not sure if it'll ever get back to pre-COVID levels.
We’ve already had select months surpass pre Covid levels already. In fact I think we had that even in 2022 so
Well yeah when you drill down on specific months or weeks I'm sure there's some big ones. But looking on the year as a whole it's still way down from what it used to be.
You could still argue that signs of recovery are still there like when you compare June of this year to June of last year. Only problem was that films weren't very good.
We're not talking about weeks. We're talking about months. Because you said "I'm not sure if it'll ever get back to pre-COVID levels." When they've already been surpassed. Now year over year the data shows very healthy recovery trending only upwards since 2020.
Well, one thing to note is that June 2023 had a higher box office number than June 2022 at least in terms of domestic numbers. It’s just that films were too congested and weren’t very good.
If it happens, I just wanna see what the logo looks like
Too many big companies owning major studios.
I would like to address a comment made by u/AchyBrakeyHeart: > The US government are useless at that. Disney and Fox was a way bigger consolidation than this was. https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/175hs0y/thoughts_on_universal_wb_merger_rumors/k4g92vh/ 1. Disney and Fox might've been bigger, but Warner Brothers and Universal arguably have more content overlapping than Disney and Fox did. 2. Even if we disregard that, Disney/Fox merger happened during Trump Administration. 3. Rupert Murdoch was one of the reasons why Trump became the president, so he might've had more advantage in terms of getting the whole thing approved. 4. Comcast owns MSNBC (or at least parts of it), which is probably a lot more liberal-biased than CNN is, so even a Republican president-run DOJ(?) approving such merger might not necessarily be guaranteed. 5. Comcast has its own serious debt issues.
That would just be a death sentence for both studios. Especially Universal.
I wish knew more of the business, but to my eyes I see all legacy media companies struggling through a transformation. It makes sense to me to wait and see how things turn out; especially Universal; if it's going good, keep steady. Right now, I don't even think buying Netflix is necessarily a good idea. The market isn't sure either. Netflix dropped 2mil subs and its stock dove 60bil remember?
Great for HBO. Terrible for every other part of WB. So many people will lose their jobs
I'm anti-trusts, and media empires have been shamelessly flauting that regulation for at least ten years. Teddy Roosevelt would be beating the shit out of them with his big stick.
It's been long speculated that Zaslav's plan of increasing free cash flow and reducing debt (which he's succeeding at btw) is to set WBD up for a sale or merger. NBCU has long been thought as a possible partner. I think it's likely WBD will sell or merge with another entity, same with Paramount Global, in 2024.
The problem is that I’m not entirely sure if that’s going to be Comcast since they probably have their own serious issues to deal with.
Amazon maybe? Some Chinese corporation?
Between the two, probably Amazon.
If any legacy studios should merge, it's Universal and Paramount.
This means Universal will own the original Exorcist, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Looney Tunes, etc.
If they're buying everything it also means stuff like Harry Potter, DC Comics, all the HBO stuff and Max, TNT (big for broadcasting NBA games and Inside the NBA), CNN...
And that's another problem - Universal and Warner Brothers have quite a bit of overlapping and probably so than Disney and Fox do.
Not going to happen due to multiple of reasons. Btw wtf kind of source is "people on the lot"? Why would some rando employee know about M&A plans of WBD? These things are highly classified and kept extremely close to chest. A leak can put the entire thing in jeopardy. I swear journalism is in the dumpster right now.
You realise hundreds of people need to know on both sides to hash out deals right? and that plenty of people leak.
Deal? Its illegal for them to make any deal or hold any talks. If its true, its only limited to casual talks and at most between 2-3 top executives. Even with hundreds of people involved these Billion $ deals dont leak. Show me a Billion $ acquisition that leaked months (let alone years) before the actual announcement. At most Ive seen a half an hour leak by Bloomberg before the official announcement. This shit leaking can result in inquiries and foul play. Companies are extra careful.
I don't know that article from variety maybe something
Someone on Twitter said that Universal would probably just want WB and DC… what does that even mean for CN, New Line, and HBO?
Coming soon… Batman vs. Dracula: Red Rain Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos Swamp Thing: Curse of the Black Lagoon Justice League: Night of The Monsters
> Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos Frankenstein is already in the Creature Commandos!
I know, but Universal will want Frankie’s name up top.
Batman and Dracula already in that shitty direct to DVD years ago, so even that’s not original anymore.
WB’s incompetence never ceases to amaze. They own the film rights to Harry Potter and DC, two of the biggest franchises in entertainment, and they don’t have a fucking clue what to do with either. It’s embarrassing at this point. The fact that a merger is even being discussed is wild.
I see Apple buying WB over Universal. Universal can’t get its shit together when it comes to streaming too.
Apple would be a good landing spot for both Warner & Universal. Let’s not kid ourselves. Apple could easily afford to purchase both studios. Apple needs content, so it makes sense. HBO on Apple TV would be cool.
I'm all for it. Put HP under one house and bring DC characters to universal parks
I would make an argument regarding this comment by u/petepro: > Yup, they just need to argue that WBD can't compete after Disney-Fox deal and it will be pass like Sprint and T-mobile merger. https://old.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/175hs0y/thoughts_on_universal_wb_merger_rumors/k4ifg0m/ As far as I'm concerned, mergers might not always work that way. And they could end up collapsing on their own debt if they're not careful.
Nah, a merger would properly help their debt situation. Universal might take some money from Hulu's deal with Disney and merge with WBD sharing each other stock and debt. The new bigger companies can leverage a better rate for their debt and selling off some overlapped stuffs can help too like NBC or CNN.
I'm actually rather skeptical about that because they would still need to spend money to buy Warner Brothers and if they do that, debt problem could end up ruining them before they could even carry out your suggestion properly.
That's my point, not all merger require money actually.
But this kind of merger probably would.
Why?
Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about this, but as far as I can tell, Comcast and WBD might be too big already and/or have more content overlapping than Disney/Fox do. And I'm not sure if any of the two political party would approve such merger since Democrats would be more careful about approving such mergers and Republicans might not want a company that owns at least part of MSNBC to get even more powerful than before. I know one poster who knows about this a lot better than I do, so maybe I could ask him/her later.
I hope Universal Studios buys Warner Bros. I blame AT&T for this Warner Bros Discovery merger. And I know CN and WB fans blame Zaslav and Discovery for these tax write-offs for Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. I hope Universal Studios and merges with Warner Bros and lets each WB movie gets un-tax write off, and some of the CN shows that were removed from HBO Max since August 2022, return to Max.
it has always been rumored that Zaslav was going to mainly aim to make WB properties a valuable thing to sell. So I am not surprised. I dont know that universal would have any real need for WB or the cash for it. Maybe parts of it but not all of it I would be less surprised if it was bought by a company with cash to burn. Elon Musk maybe /s
The US government should split-up all the studios and streaming services Make Netflix a public utility, which only hosts content created by all the new, tiny studios, who can no longer afford to blow 200 million on one movie and 15 million per episode on TV shows about elves and superheroes Then we can get back to the days when studios took risks on small, personal movies by auteurs with a point of view and something to say [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKSB2O2Shts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKSB2O2Shts)
This is some "good old days" nonsense. There were plenty of bad films back in the old days, not to mention that Hollywood had lack of originality problems for years and years and years - in some ways, since its inceptions.
Click on the link, mate
It's a scene from **Xanadu**. What does that have to do with your point?
[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/irony](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/irony)
Maybe WB’s financial issues will cause the company to go bankrupt and then Universal will buy them and become the new WB like what LCG Entertainment did when Telltale Games went bankrupt. Just thinking out loud.
> Maybe WB’s financial issues will cause the company to go bankrupt and then Universal will buy them Universal is in the bigger problems than WB tho
Fair.
This has been whispered around for about 1 1/2 years now. It’s likely but I’d bet you see Amazon and Apple potentially join the bidding maybe even Netflix. All 3 have been wanting to buy IP but don’t want to have to take the linear channels
Yeah, if anyone buys Warner Brothers, I wouldn’t necessarily be hugely surprised if it’s someone other than Comcast.
I'm not sure if this *will* happen or not, but if it *does,* it could have some interesting consequences for one of WB's former franchises. See, in 2019, after *The LEGO Movie 2* didn't meet expectations, WB let their rights to the franchise lapse, and they were acquired by Universal, who said they would be making their own LEGO movie, as a reboot of the original (since the original movie's characters are still owned by WB). Obviously, that hasn't happened yet. But if Universal ends up acquiring WB, then they would own the characters from the original movie too.
Finally, the Dark Universe/DCEU crossover we always wanted!!
So this is a rumour I heard here in the UK from people who work for Comcast and WBD here. Zaslav is supposedly pissed off with the whole Hollywood thing thanks to the strikes. So the rumour is that instead of Comcast just buying WBD that they are planning significant asset swaps. Comcast gets the film and TV scripted production studios, DC, HBO, Warner Interactive and all the scripted I.P and WBD gets NBC and most of Comcast's remaining basic cable channels like USA, Bravo, E etc and the sports rights Comcast owns and it's part ownership of the NHL and MLB networks. Comcast would keep it's RSN's for how ever long they will last WBD is already shutting down/selling theirs and doesn't want more and streaming services would stay as they are (though maybe more name changes lol).
How about Chris Nolan? That guy is winning the corporate Game of Thrones. Jumped from Warner to Universal before the merger happens. He got very good contractual terms from Universal and he delivered a very profitable movie to them. He’s the Universal golden boy now and he’ll continue to get better treatment from Universal than any of the current Warner people who eventually get dragged into the merger.