Netflix Buying Warner Bros. Could Lead to Worse Content at Higher Prices
Here we go again … another media mega-merger
All the hoopla about Netflix “building, not buying” just went out the window with this morning’s news that Netflix outbid NBCUniversal and Paramount in the race to acquire Warner Bros.
Netflix is the new kid on the block here. For those not following the industry inside baseball, both its competitors in the bidding war are products of corporate conquest and consolidation.
One need only recall the many iterations of HBO’s streaming platforms (HBO Now, anyone?) that resulted in (the first version of) HBO Max in 2020, thanks to the merging of Warner Bros. and Discovery.
But what does all this mean for you, the TV fan and streaming customer?
Does consumer value decline when media giants consolidate?
Generally speaking, the short answer is usually a resounding “yes.” But because we’re talking about Netflix, it could go any number of ways.
Traditionally, in the streaming world, this sort of acquisition would mean consolidating IP and repackaging platforms. Again, just look at Netflix’s two competitors, NBCUniversal and Paramount, and the rollouts of Peacock and Paramount+, respectively, and Amazon’s acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The consolidation of IP has been one of the driving forces behind the cancellation of TV series and the shelving of movies. Note the slew of HBO and Turner Broadcasting cancellations around the same time as Warner Bros. Discovery’s botched Max rebrand and consolidation in 2023.
SAG-AFTRA Statement Regarding Proposed Netflix/Warner Bros. Transaction pic.twitter.com/nexNtv9Pj0
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) December 5, 2025
And if that wasn’t enough, previous mergers and acquisitions have also correlated with ubiquitous price increases across the industry over the past 20 years. The repackaging and merging of platforms presents as a value add to shareholders, but just another corporate cash grab to fans.
That puts Netflix in a precarious position not just in the far-flung future but also in the here and now, with current streaming partnerships and media rights deals. As our Staff Writer, Olivia Bono, so succinctly put it this morning:
“I wonder if this will be the end of the Disney Bundle/HBO Max partnership. Netflix and HBO Max are always the two most expensive services, so I doubt they’ll merge them right away, but I bet they’ll make their own bundle to rival Disney’s.”
Expect higher prices and less interesting content over the long haul
So, will Netflix serve shareholders by following the playbook of media giants like NBCUniversal and Paramount or cater to TV fans by bucking these broader trends over the next two to three years?
And if Netflix does consolidate platforms and raise prices, will fickle streaming subscribers cancel subscriptions en masse? Remember, approximately one in three Americans has cancelled a streaming service in the past year.
For my money, we’ll see cuts to content and ballooning prices. Still, subscribers will ultimately stick around as they did after Netflix’s last unpopular move, its infamous password crackdown, which raked in ungodly profits in 2023.
Stay tuned and cross your fingers, TV fans, that, in the words of our streaming expert, Ms. Bono, the industry “isn’t on its way to becoming a horrifying monopoly.”
