Netflix is buying Warner Brothers. I can hear the ‘so-what’ chorus. “Nu-mi pasa. So Breaking Bad will buy Bugs Bunny. They still will be dwarfed by the mouse. Remember when AOL bought Warner Brothers? Did the Democrats ever say anything about that? It was Clinton’s appointee who allowed distributors to have control of the shows in the first place.”
Yes, it was the Democrats who allowed these monopolies to exist in the first place. And it was Reagan who tried to block them. So, when politicians complain about it, it seems like just point-scoring.
But from a Romanian point of view, Warner Brothers owns HBO. If Netflix owns HBO, that means you might be able to get more shows on a single subscription. What if their competitor, Paramount buys HBO (I mean Warner Brothers) instead? That means, instead of subscribing to HBO to watch Bugs Bunny (or Harry Potter) you can probably get it with SkyShowtime. (Paramount owns half of Sky Showtime.)
So, if you subscribe to multiple streaming platforms, a merger could mean lower prices. Others claim that owning more content will allow the streamers to raise the prices.
Will it mean lost jobs? Probably not in Romania, but it might mean a few duplicated roles will be consolidated. If two streaming services merge into one, then a few jobs will be duplicated, including technical support, sales, customer service, and perhaps even marketing.
There could be a small negative impact on the Romanian economy if the merged company decides to lower their local advertising budget.
What will it mean for Romanian creators? Will it mean less Romanian content? It doesn’t appear to be the case immediately, but Netflix and HBO do produce some Romanian shows. The merger might mean less competition for talent, and smaller budgets for some shows. This is not a large part of the Romanian economy, and it is possible that Romanian distributors such as Digi and the one that begins with Voyo/ProTV will take the opportunity to distribute more Romanian films.
Who are the Romanian streamers? They aren’t mentioned on Euronews, but they exist. Unfortunately, Euronews is pretty lazy when it comes to reporting on Romania. DW is usually better, if you are relying on foreign broadcasters.
Voyo doesn’t have the largest selection of American films. (It does currently have Deck the Halls, which is pretty funny, and we saw Never Ending Story on it. Like Netflix and Paramount Plus, shows come and go.) Voyo does have a few good Romanian films, and some famous Romanian series.
Currently, festival favorites are more likely to be bought by HBO, comedy series by Voyo, and yet Netflix is the gold standard that many producers want their films want to be distributed on. To lose a market will no doubt have an emotional impact, and possibly an economic one.
For customers, I am not sure a merger of these two streamers will have the largest impact. If Disney and Netflix merge, that would be a big deal.
Under Warner, HBO acts like an independent entity. But, if someone else buys it, that may no longer be the case. The lack of an independent HBO could have a negative impact on Romanian production. Would Netflix kill HBO out of spite? (They used to be competitors, after all.)
What do you think? Who will be affected by the Romanian streaming industry?