Netflix Ditches Deal for Warner Bros. Discovery After Paramount's Offer is Deemed Superior (cnbc.com) 47
Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed a revised bid by Paramount Skydance to be a superior offer. From a report: Earlier this week, Paramount raised its bid to buy the entirety of WBD to $31 per share, up from $30 per share, all cash. It was the latest amendment to Paramount's multiple offers in recent months -- and since moving forward with a hostile bid to buy the company -- and it's now unseated a deal between WBD and Netflix to sell the legacy media company's studio and streaming businesses for $27.75 per share.
Last week, Netflix granted WBD a seven-day waiver to reengage with Paramount, resulting in the higher bid. Paramount's offer is for the entirety of WBD, including its pay-TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and TNT. Netflix had four business days to make changes to its own proposal in light of Paramount's superior bid, the WBD board said in a statement Thursday. Instead, the decision by the streaming giant to walk away puts a pin in a drawn-out saga that saw amended offers from both bidders.
Last week, Netflix granted WBD a seven-day waiver to reengage with Paramount, resulting in the higher bid. Paramount's offer is for the entirety of WBD, including its pay-TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and TNT. Netflix had four business days to make changes to its own proposal in light of Paramount's superior bid, the WBD board said in a statement Thursday. Instead, the decision by the streaming giant to walk away puts a pin in a drawn-out saga that saw amended offers from both bidders.
All political! (Score:3, Insightful)
Trump all but said "If WB doesn't sell to my best buddy Larry and his family I will make sure the Netflix deal isn't 'ok'ed."
High Crimes and Misdemeanors anyone?
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Worse still, we are already seeing shows trend towards conservative slop that keeps Trump happy.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Trump is one guy. Half of the US disagrees with the political agenda of TV writers. It would be wise for media companies to be less politically polarized.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I keep hearing about left leaning bias in the media, but when pressed tor any evidence, people making the claim rarely can supply any. Instead, they tend to provide only evidence that reality itself has a "left leaning bias" because the right leaning ones lost their grip with it.
So, I'll give you the opportunity to try to back up your claim now. I'll go first...
Re: (Score:1)
Pick a show you have watched recently where there was a political topic. Which side did the show come down on? If there was a conflict, who ended up changing their mind? If the show involved a political figure, and they were good, what were their issues? What if they were bad?
How were the issues framed? If the characters are partisan, how are they framed?
Re: (Score:2)
Huh, funny... You actually thought Fox News was "news" and not a show or "entertainment side of media"?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean the seemingly endless leftwards march of the media is finally stopping? I hope you're right.
Persecution complex much? Media is not as leftwards-leaning as you seem to think. Here, this may help. [adfontesmedia.com]
Trump is one guy. Half of the US disagrees with the political agenda of TV writers. It would be wise for media companies to be less politically polarized.
It would be even wiser for people to be aware of any polarization present in the stories they read. And it's not all from the left, as you seem to think. Here's another tool that may help. [ground.news]
Re: (Score:1)
That
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
We shall see what happens, but I worry that conservatives have managed to get Star Trek cancelled again. There are no new shows in production, currently.
They whined and review bombed, demanding a return to an idealized version of the 90s shows that never actually existed. They want bland, safe Trek, like a particularly inoffensive episode of Voyager. Something that they can simply nod along to because it confirms their existing views, rather than asking anything interesting or challenging them in any way.
It
Re: (Score:1)
What's wrong with Voyager? My teenage daughters and I are watching the series right now. It's great! I can't stand any of the new junk after Enterprise, and I tried. The 90's were gold. The Critical Drinker on YouTube outlines what's wrong with new StarTrek pretty well. I know it's gone, dead, and buried. But at least I can show my kids what the world used to be like... What heroes used to act like. What a role model is, and isn't. Old Trek (and StarGate for that matter) had the right of it. Modern Trek
Re: (Score:3)
Voyager has some good episodes, some verging on great. But it has a lot of mediocre ones too. It suffered from Berman being in charge, and from the weekly reset that meant nothing really mattered. They also very quickly abandoned the basic premise of the show, that they are a long way from the Federation and have limited resources. That famous line about only having 36 photon torpedoes, or the fact that the Delta Flyer got destroyed and they just built another one off screen by the next week.
Mostly though t
Re: (Score:2)
New Trek all sucks. bigtime. I started letting go with Deep Space 9. Voyager I eventually suffered seeing in it's entirety. Big waste of time. The Orville was the most Trek like show I've seen in a long time even with the rocky start.
Americans have to learn to let go and move on. It's a human problem but worse in a spoiled society. Trek is over and died decades ago. Let. It. Go. Allegories can continue without obsessing with the metaphors to the point they completely lose the allegory. Trek is ironically,
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry you feel that way, but I am really enjoying the new stuff. It's interesting that you have a video about how to avoid becoming a fascist in your signature, and Discovery season 1 was basically about that in large part.
Re: (Score:1)
Didn't watch Discovery. Didn't even really know about it until it got involved in my State's gubernatorial election, which was a massive turn off. With the new one they said, "it's not for old fans", which I am, so I took their word on it. What I have seen make me think they were right; it wasn't for me. I wouldn't tell anyone to cancel it though.
And you've really got to stop imagining what other people think. I
Re: (Score:2)
SNW is finishing with season 5. They have not announced any follow on shows as of yet. Academy season 2 has finished filming, and no announcement on season 3 yet. Probably won't be until season 1 finishes, at least.
I think the risk with Academy is that they are hoping to get a very specific market involved, and if they don't they won't keep making it for the other fans. Being on Paramount's streaming service only is not going to help it. It's a genuinely excellent show, and I'm an old fan saying that. I don
Re: (Score:1)
Actually, a lot of what I saw in the teasers and traile
Re: (Score:2)
You remind me of people who complained about Picard being bald. "They would have cured baldness in the future!" they cried. Roddenberry responded that in the future, nobody would care about baldness.
Besides she has a normal body type. She's not fat, that's just how some women are. Look at athletes like the Williams sisters.
TNG cadets were... Well, first they put Wesley through a recreation of the accident that killed his dad, so that was pretty fucked up. Then he got in with a bunch of them who got another
Re: (Score:1)
Here, I even found his video which describes it perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
The Critical Drinker is just a ragebait channel, he's not a serious critic. He's deeply unserious.
Re: (Score:1)
Deeply unserious = entertaining... But he's also very accurate. His reviews of the new StarWars nails how I felt about it. For example, consider this gem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] That is how I feel about new StarTrek - they ARE written by children, with all the wisdom and (lack of) real world experience they have to offer.
Re: (Score:2)
I like the new Trek because it's so thoughtful and insightful. There is a lot of life experience and emotional intelligence there.
Re: (Score:2)
What leftward march? I've not seen much as I watch very little... The bit I see does look rather in-your-face identity BS; like blatant propaganda which I am to assume is so normal for young people that they can't even spot what is going on. Some of this is just generational change with old people having the context to spot it - this is a historic norm. Some is intentional and much of it is just CHANGE and an old person not realizing they are standing still. As far as it being too intentional... maybe.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Is that supposed to be a rebuttal? Are you asking that as if Qatar are some adversaries to Israel--the same Qatar that allows the US to host bases there, and pays multiple Israeli weaponry firms?
nice attempt at forum sliding there with some boomer TV talk.
Re: (Score:3)
You've figured it out; but how do you get slower people to realize?
This is likely going to destroy WB- it's a leveraged buyout that vulture capitalists use to destroy capitalism. It's not real cash. Nobody should be able to borrow way beyond a corporation's value to buy out another company; even a bigger company, simply because they can get a big loan and then sit the victim with the debt of their own buyout. WB was setup for this; if the CEO fails it's their way to a big profit if they don't set out from
Re: (Score:2)
"TicToc will get young people siding with Israel like the rest of the media did"
I don't think so, the genie is out of the bottle and if anything the timing of the Epstein leaks finally blowing up in a period of heightened scrutiny has corked the bottle for good.
The inclination of tech companies to institute age requirements no one asked for based around digital ID, just so they can dedault-censor news and social median indicates that they don't have any faith in winning back a public dialogue, let alone the
Re: (Score:2)
They will likely get into the AI which for now, people believe in more than any advertising or news. It's highly effective at the moment. Not that we can't have 1/3 of the public beyond believably gullible...and they all vote.
Re: (Score:2)
This was all political!
Trump all but said "If WB doesn't sell to my best buddy Larry and his family I will make sure the Netflix deal isn't 'ok'ed."
High Crimes and Misdemeanors anyone?
Errrr no. Well maybe. It could be that they said that, but honestly it was bizarrely dumb of WB to not take the higher offer in the first place.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Fascism is corporatism. The dictator is the national CEO who sticks his nose into businesses as he sees fit and they comply like a subsidiary. Dictators rarely have absolute power; it just makes it easier for simpletons to spot them the more extreme they get-- that is if they are even thinking at all and not just parroting ad-hom attacks.
Technically, everything is politics unless you are a hermit...and prolonged extreme isolation tends to promote insanity - you could end up being political with multiple-ve
To get rid of Trump's 'fake news' (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Trump is his own worst enemy, so should be shackled.
Good (Score:2)
Netflix is where content goes to die.
Re: (Score:2)
Not a false sentiment either. There are real concerns if Netflix acquired WB, that's the end of physical media. Because Netflix has a literal policy of no physical media ever.
And yes, many directories got burned by the policy because they created their movie with Netflix funding, only to see limited theatrical runs (just enough for awards) and no physical release, so their content is stuck on Netflix with no other legitimate way to view it.
So yes, content goes to die. Yo
Re: (Score:2)
That's what Bittorrent is for...
Re: (Score:1)
There's still hope! (Score:1)
Maybe Netflix will buy Paramount
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe Apple will buy Paramount, Sony, and ABC?
"All restaurants are Taco Bell"
Netflix payday (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Netflix is the winner here. WBD is massively overvalued at the price that was being commanded at the end of this deal.
The losers are customers that will see continued consolidation, price hikes, and less quality, new content.
Re: (Score:2)
Netflix is the winner here.
A number of financial news pundits in recent articles stated that the winner will be the one who does not end up acquiring WBD (dodging the Zaslav overpriced bullet). You have to give Zaslav some credit in maximizing shareholder value (and not to mention his own payday), but I can't see this working out well for the combined company with a debt load of nearly $100B.