Forget Mark Twain, this time from HBO Max, whose death may have been greatly exaggerated, according to Warner Bros. manager David Zaslav. Discovered.
Many believed that Netflix was likely to shut down the rival streaming service when regulators approved the recently announced acquisition of WBD, fearing that it could significantly raise the price of monthly subscriptions to its platform due to the wave of new content that the company had just paid big bucks for.
According to the recording of WBD’s general meeting obtained by Business interior designZaslav assured employees that “HBO Max is here to stay.” Adding: “People who just want HBO Max will be able to get it.”
This has been one of the biggest concerns for Netflix and HBO Max subscribers who only use one of the two services: if they merge, they’ll be forced to pay more for an expanded content catalog full of things they never wanted. Based on Zaslav’s comments, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’d take his word with a grain of salt, though, because in about twelve to eighteen months (the estimated timeline for the acquisition, assuming all goes well, though President Trump’s recent comments suggest things could be at least a little choppy), David Zaslav will no longer be the one making business decisions for HBO Max.
So you can promise what you want to some extent, because you are not obliged to keep what you promise.
But the idea of dividing services makes sense. That could allay concerns that Netflix could dominate the video-on-demand market if HBO Max is blocked. Additionally, bundling the services would require a significant price increase, which may be excessive for some customers.
By keeping things separate, Netflix can simply offer a package that offers both services at a lower price than paying separately, while keeping the platforms fairly separate.
And why wouldn’t Netflix want to make its platform even more important to our entertainment needs than it already is? As with many things in this deal, we’ll have to wait and see what happens: Paramount also announced a hostile takeover bid today before Netflix can acquire WBD. So forget about trying to figure out what might happen in a year or so, we don’t know what might happen tomorrow.
Whatever happens, we will keep you informed.
