Netflix did not need to demonstrate creative capacity: its own production had become the reference for global streaming. However, the announced agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business introduces a change in scale if regulators end up approving the operation. It is not about adding a few more series, but about integrating a studio with decades of history, the area where HBO is located and a very relevant part of its catalog, in addition to several franchises that have marked popular culture. Faced with such a move, the inevitable question is what, exactly, will become under the control of Netflix, without this meaning that everything will appear tomorrow in its application.
The agreement is not closed yet and depends on several formal steps. Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced that the operation, valued at $72 billion in capital and some $82.7 billion in enterprise value, can only be completed after spinning off the new Discovery Global company. From there, the process will be in the hands of the regulators, which could take between 12 and 18 months to review an integration of this magnitude and could impose additional conditions or, in the worst case scenario, block it.
The perimeter of the deal: what actually goes into the package. Official communications and media analysis agree that the operation covers the historical core of the study. That includes Warner Bros. Pictures, responsible for its film catalog, and Warner Bros. Television, the basis for some of the most influential series of recent decades. Added to that block are HBO and the HBO Max platform, which are part of the streaming business that Netflix intends to integrate, as well as DC Studios. The inclusion of Warner Bros. Games is not detailed in the first press release.
What’s left out: the new Discovery Global. The operation does not cover the entire Warner Bros. Discovery. Before completion, the company must spin off a block of channels and services that will not come under Netflix control. Warner Bros. Discovery’s corporate plans indicate that this group will be integrated into the new Discovery Global, an independent company that will maintain assets such as CNN, Discovery Channel, TBS, TNT in the United States, Food Network, HGTV, Discovery+ and part of the sports operations, including TNT Sports US.
Film franchises: from Hogwarts to Gotham. Netflix and Warner’s own joint communication serves as a guide to understanding the caliber of the film franchises involved. It mentions specific titles such as ‘Harry Potter’, the DC Universe, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Citizen Kane’, along with television brands such as ‘Friends’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Game of Thrones’, as a sample of the archive that accompanies the study. From that base, media like Newsweek and What’s on Netflix broadens the focus and they point out that, within Warner’s recent filmography, sagas such as ‘Dune’ or ‘The Matrix’ also appear as part of the fund that would remain under the management of the studio controlled by Netflix, always with the caution that it is not an official list title by title.
Warner’s animated treasure. Among the assets least visible to the general public, but widely cited in coverage of the agreement, There is the extensive animation catalog that accompanies the Warner studio. There, icons like ‘Looney Tunes’, ‘Tom and Jerry’ and ‘Scooby-Doo’ are mixed with series that defined Cartoon Network’s identity, from ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ and ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ to ‘Adventure Time’, ‘Regular Show’ and ‘Steven Universe’.
The interactive leg of the deal is best understood if we look at what it means, in practice, for Warner Bros. Games to change ownership. Although the first corporate communication did not go into that level of detail, specialized media such as GameDeveloper have cited to a company spokesperson to confirm that the video game division is entering into the operation with Netflix.
What is confirmed and what remains unknown. At this point we can draw a relatively clear line between what is confirmed and what still depends on third parties. The perimeter of the agreement falls into the first group: Netflix and Warner have explained that the package includes film and television studiosthe area where HBO and HBO Max and the video game division are included, while the linear channels are grouped into Discovery Global. We also know that franchises such as ‘Harry Potter’, the DC Universe, ‘Friends’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ are mentioned by the parties themselves as examples of the archive they provide. What remains open is when and how this will be reflected in the catalog of each country, what will happen with co-productions and previous licenses already signed and to what extent regulators will impose additional conditions or, in the most extreme scenario, decide to stop the operation.
The real impact of this operation will be noticed over time, not from one day to the next. If the agreement receives the approval of regulators, Netflix will manage a studio with a historical weight that is difficult to replicate and a library that has defined much of recent audiovisual culture. What the viewer will see will be a gradual transition, marked by pre-existing licenses and agreements that must be respected, with different schedules depending on the country and type of content. Even so, the movement anticipates a stage in which the platform will stop depending so much on third parties and will consolidate its own base of content that, until now, it could only license.
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