Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.
In September, Google and C-SPAN struck a deal to bring the networks to subscribers, and this week C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, and C-SPAN3 went live on YouTube TV in all its unfiltered glory of wall-to-wall government minutia. But, it’s not all boring congressional sessions, they know how to have fun at C-SPAN, too.
WB has a checkered history of acquisitions, but joining forces with Netflix would elevate it to a new level of prominence.
Warner Bros. mergers have a not-so-great history, but with this deal, co-CEO Greg Peters said on an analyst call that, as transcribed by Deadline:
We understand these assets that we’re buying, the things that are critical in Warner Bros. are key businesses that we operate in, and we understand. A lot of times, the acquiring company, it was a legacy non-growth business that was looking for sort of a lifeline. That doesn’t apply to us.
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, from an investor call:
This deal is pro consumer, pro innovation, pro worker, it’s pro creator, it’s pro growth. And our plans here are to work really closely with all the appropriate governments and regulators, but really confident that we’re going to get all the necessary approvals that we need.
From its website:
The world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent. The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers. Industry workers along with the public are already impacted by only a few powerful companies maintaining tight control over what consumers can watch on television, on streaming, and in theaters. This merger must be blocked.
From its press release:
Netflix expects to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films.
“Expects” is doing a lot of work there. But responding to an investor question about theatrical plans, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said:
I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies for that matter.
WBD’s board of directors determined that “this structure – Warner Bros. joining Netflix, and Discovery Global becoming a focused standalone company – provides the strongest long-term foundation for both sets of businesses,” Zaslav says.
It was bad enough that Amazon thought people would enjoy English / Spanish versions of Banana Fish and No Game, No Life Zero that were shoddily dubbed using generative AI. But Anime News Network reports that the streamer didn’t even bother to ask the original studios behind those series if that kind of dubbing was ok.
The company is selling Spry Fox, a studio it acquired in 2022 that’s known for cozy games like Cozy Grove and is developing an MMO, back to its original owners, Game File reports. It’s the latest shift in Netflix’s evolving gaming strategy.
Rian Johnson might not be open to a Knives Out feature starring The Muppets, but he seems to have given his blessing to Netflix’s new Sesame Street short about detective Beignet Blanc investigating the disappearance of Cookie Monster’s triple berry pie.
Stranger Things is back for (the first part of) its final season, but given the lengthy period between episodes, there’s a good chance you have some catching up to do. To that end, Netflix released this very handy recap covering season 4, which wrapped up way back in 2022.
We knew this day was coming. Starting this week, Plex says it’ll require a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass in order to stream remotely to its Roku app. In 2026, enforcement will come to “all other Plex TV apps (Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, etc) and any third party clients using the API.”
[Plex Forum]
The first chunk of the show’s fifth and final season moves a little too fast for its own good.
This trailer for Netflix’s upcoming Star Search revival is really just a list all the celebrities like Beyoncé, Usher, and Britney Spears who were discovered on the original series. But it’s also the streamer’s way of announcing that Anthony Anderson will host the new live show when it premieres on January 13th.
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The director of Wake Up Dead Man talks about the direction of the series, and why each one is ‘a reaction to the present moment.’
US-based car reviewers are going gaga over Chinese EVs. Their audiences wonder why they can’t buy them.
A source tells TheWrap that Netflix is betting on video podcasts to capture your attention while outside the platform:
When people aren’t spending time on Netflix, we want to win as much of that as possible.
In addition to a podcasting deal with Spotify, rumors suggest that Netflix is considering licensing shows from iHeartMedia and SiriusXM — and maybe even launching its own podcasts, too.
Over the weekend, CNN yanked its stories from the Apple News app as it tries to work out a deal that would bring its content back to the platform, according to a report from Semafor.
CNN has gotten more aggressive about monetizing its content over the past year, with the outlet paywalling some of its articles and once again launching a streaming service.
Alongside the unveiling of the very impressive self-walking Olaf character coming to Disney’s Frozen world attractions in Paris and Hong Kong next year, Disney takes us on a behind the scenes look at its research and development efforts, showing how reinforcement learning combined with simulation is dramatically accelerating robot development.
