RadioFreeLiberal.com

BBC:

Netflix to buy Warner Bros film and streaming businesses for $72bn

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce91x2jm5pjo

Netflix has agreed to buy the film and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery for $72bn (£54bn) in a major Hollywood deal.

The streaming giant emerged as the successful bidder for Warner Bros ahead of rivals Comcast and Paramount Skydance after a drawn-out battle.

Warner Bros owns franchises including Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, and the streaming service HBO Max.

How many times has Warners been sold now? I've lost count. It seems to happen every 8-10 years. I'm so old I remember when it was part of Time Life Publications, and that's at least four owners ago.

Variety's cover got it right! They show a silhouette of a movie actor labeled "HBO" about to get covered by a huge box trap with a huge "N" on it. The money's not in entertainment production any more, it's in buying and selling the means of such production. How very Marxian. It's starting to look just a bit apocalyptic.

Well, well, well. Now Netflix has pissed off Donald Trump. I can't remember why, but I can't believe it matters. Everything pisses off Donald Trump. He is diagnosed with a severe personality disorder, and everyone knows this, but they vote for him anyway because they're afraid of the American Way itself. They want an authoritarian unitary executive. History has given ample anecdotal evidence that this kind of government invariably leads to very bad times with wars and/or depressions, but Americans don't learn history.

Anyway, the point is that he's threatening to spike the Netflix deal to be this year's owner of Warner's. I can't remember the reason, and can't believe that it matters. The point is that now we learn that Act III is still in rewrite. Don't make up the production schedule board quite yet.

It turns out that Trump was no doubt responding to something Bannon read to him out of the showbiz trades. He did make one of his typically rambling statements about the whole situation, but the real reason Netflix dropped out is that The Conglomerate Formerly Known as Paramount made a better offer. Even The Donald gets it that money talks.

History has given ample anecdotal evidence that this kind of government invariably leads to very bad times with wars and/or depressions, but Americans don't learn history.

Turns out to be even more true than I expected. This time it appears that "and" is the right word here.

Actually, now it seems evident that drumpf might have favored the Paramount bid because the same conglomerate already owns CNN, and it helps the right wing media consolidation Thing.