The New Law of the Streaming Jungle
The logic, I suppose, is brutally simple. If this deal happens, the combined Netflix and Warner would have a staggering 500 million subscribers. They’d also have a content library featuring everything from Stranger Things to Harry Potter and Batman. Suddenly, it’s not about who has the cleverest technology, it’s about who has the biggest cudgel. Scale becomes the only game in town.
Every other player, from Disney to the local corner shop, has to look over their shoulder. Can they compete when one giant can outbid them for every script, every actor, and every sports league? Of course not. It forces everyone to make a rather unpleasant choice. Either you start buying up your neighbours to get bigger, or you put a ‘For Sale’ sign on your own front lawn. This whole messy affair, what some are calling the Streaming Consolidation (Netflix WBD Merger), is forcing every executive's hand.