Tag: Paramount Skydance

Media Moves: Netflix Backing Out Should Accelerate The Inevitable

Will it be a comedy or a drama when it debuts on Netflix?

There’s no denying that the insane pedophile rampaging through the last decade of our lives has changed things. It’s unfortunate that we let that occur. While many of us may have seen the potential for all the damage he’s caused, you can say not enough did, but I’ll say instead that not enough cared.

Smartphone screen showing the Paramount logo in sharp focus in the foreground, with a blurred Netflix logo and other colorful streaming imagery in the background, suggesting competition between streaming services.

But here we are. Where is that exactly? We’re witnessing almost daily damage to most things around us that I think too many still think will get magically reversed when he leaves office or leaves this planet, whichever comes first. It will take a few generations to get back to whatever we believed normal was, although I’m not sure there ever was a normal because things always evolved, though by and large at a more sanely digestible pace.

Take for example what’s happening in the media landscape. News that Netflix was going to withdraw from a bidding war for Warner Brothers, effectively clearing the field for Paramount to win the deal is being discussed from a number of perspectives by all the usual and unusual suspects.

Those that wanted Netflix to rise to the challenge and succeed, keeping Warner Brothers away from the MAGAt supporting Ellison family, were depressed and angry. Those who see Netflix as just another evil media empire were oblivously happy. Most just want to know when the next and eventual price increases are coming.

Quite a few are quite concerned about what this will do to CNN and the news landscape. They needn’t be. That Punch and Judy network long since turned over the puppet strings to the wrong masters.

You can argue that this might have happened with or without Trump, but there’s no point in that. What you can’t argue is that this kind of wheeling and dealing will never be the same again now that the Oval Office has become the one stop shop for getting ahead.

I happen to think that in the long run, Netflix pulling out of the bidding is a good thing. The trend lines point away from what we have thought of as traditional media and entertainment. Now that news is entertainment and sports is politics, it’s a circle of cannibals feeding on each other.

As for those concerned about CNN and news coverage in the larger scheme, let’s get real. There are only so many corporate knees one can bend. Yes, CBS and CNN will essentially become the same, but that consolidation is going to be an accelerant tossed on two already burning corpses.

For those concerned about the picture beyond the news game, I think we’ll see the same sort of downward acceleration once things settle in, which won’t be for a while yet. Movies and other entertainment will still get made. We’re in an age of content abundance, yet keep in mind the real winner at the moment is probably YouTube, which continues to steal eyeballs from all the other sources. Note also that audio audiences are listening more to podcasts than talk radio according to some statistics.

My hunch is this latest episode will just quicken the decline for the capitulators and accelerate the trend of consumers making other choices. I can’t wait to watch the extended series about it all on Netflix.

That’s my $.02. It might not be worth half that.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

The Netflix Paramount Media Money Muddle

Stay tuned

It was quite comedic to watch the reaction to the news at the end of last week that Netflix had won the bidding to take over Warner Brothers. There was indeed much celebrating. There as also quite a bit of consternation. The celebration was primarily because there is an abundant school of thought that no one wanted Paramount, now essentially another tentacle of the Trump administration, to win.

CleanShot 2025-12-09 at 14.59.44@2x.

I didn’t bite on the news celebrations or the consternation being the final chapter then. Of course it wasn’t. The Netflix bid parlayed out to $72 billion. On Monday, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile all cash takeover bid of $77.9 billion.

There’s only a roughly $5-6 billion difference between the two bids, but the Paramount bid seeks to swallow up the pieces of Warner Brothers/Discovery that Netflix apparently wasn’t interested in, including media properties such as CNN, TNT Sports, and Discovery. Netflix’s bid was for Warner’s Studio and HBO’s streaming business only. Note that Warner Brothers had previously announced that it planned to split up the combined businesses in just that vein.

So, what does it all mean?

First, it means a lot of lawyers and lobbyists are going to make a lot of money. There are political, marketplace, and money pieces moving around the board in what looks to be quite a saga that I imagine Hulu will end up making a series about within a couple of years.

Netflix is after the content. And the control. Ben Thompson has an excellent run down on that, and why Netflix’s delivery system makes it make sense. Netflix has created quite a war chest for its bid (which is both cash and stock), by building a relatively slick distribution system to deliver its already abundant content, plus whatever it continues acquiring. (How many TV remotes are there without a Netflix button these days?)

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison’s all cash bid includes quite a few players including his pop, Larry Ellison, both of whom are Trump supporters, as well as outlays from sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and also Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. Without those partners Paramount, valued at around $15 billion, would have a hard time competing with Netflix’s roughly $400 billion war chest. (The Wall Street Journal has a decent rundown on more of the money specifics.)

Second, it means what was already a muddle the way most of these kind of things are, will get muddled up even more due to the politics of the moment. I’ll disagree with Ben Thompson’s analysis that points out that the President doesn’t have final say on this. That may have indeed been true in a past we’re no longer living in. Those old rules no longer apply. As we’ve been learning everyday since January 20, 2025.

Third, Hollywood also has its concerns. The traditional studio power structure is not enamored of Netflix and its heretofore disdain for theatrical releases, which also brings movie theatre owners into play. I’m not sure if the Netflix bid means the death of Hollywood as some claim, but it certainly would shift the pieces, the game board, and the power structure as what began as a tech company could end up controlling much of what we see on our smaller silver screens.

Big money is at stake obviously. But when big egos get involved the costs for everyone increase. Including those flipping through content consumption choices with their remotes.

Stay tuned. I’m guessing that Hulu series will be quite a watch when all is said and done.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.