Joe Flint

Netflix had a deal with Warner, but Paramount refused to throw in the towel.

And they kept coming back with more offers.

And even though none of these offers they were making were really moving the needle for Warner, they were making offers.

They were lobbying lawmakers to argue against Netflix.

They clearly were not going down without a fight.

And finally, last week, they made an offer to borrow from a Paramount classic, an offer that Warner couldn't refuse.

This deal is almost, one could say, was a make or break for the whole Ellison strategy.

And they felt that Paramount on its own didn't have the size and scale to compete with a Netflix, a Disney, all these other bigger players in the streaming wars.

But if they could get Warner as well, and the Warner Library, and HBO Max, and the cable networks...

Paramount felt they really needed Warner to have a strong hand to go up against a Disney and a Netflix.

So they really did need to have this.

If you think about, you know, the library they have, whether it's Superman.

Harry Potter.

Hit TV shows, Friends.

I'm not great at the advice.

Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?

Tons of shows, all these things which are vital to a streaming platform.

For all the original programming Netflix puts on, one of the big things that they have, of course, are those old shows.

These shows that have hundreds of episodes are incredibly valuable to these streaming services who are all trying to reduce churn.

They're trying to keep customers from buying it and then dropping it after their favorite show goes off the air.