Netflix Aims To Outbid HBO For Warner Bros Films

COMMENTS (10)

• This is great news.

  Competition from Netflix will most certainly impact the cost for consumers in a positive way.

  Comment by tom — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 11:08am PST  Reply to this post

• HBO and Warner Bros. are both under the same corporate umbrella, so in “driving prices up” aren’t we just talking about moving a few extra dollars from one side of Time Warner’s ledger to the other? Unless I’m missing something, it doesn’t seem like there’s much Netflix can do in this particular case to change the relationship between corporate siblings…

  Comment by vertical integration — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 11:11am PST  Reply to this post

  • I agree that the HBO/WB corporate relationship will control WB product, or certainly influence it.

    On the other hand, Netflix has become a major player in attractive cost and user friendly DVD rental. Even if this particular deal gets no traction, it may be the beginning of new efforts, which at the end of the day, may benefit consumers.

    Ask Blockbuster and others what impact Netflix has had on their business models. Perhaps, something good will come out of this, and there does not seem to be a downside at present.

    Netflix may not change the relationship of corporate siblings, but it may change the general after release marketplace.

    It’s worth a shot!

    Comment by tom — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 12:18pm PST  Reply to this post

• Warner bros/newline movies will always have the pay tv window on HBO/cinemax; HBO and warner bros films are both own by time warner; this is a ridiculus artical. netfilx could take univeral or fox films away from HBO;but I do not think that will happen as well.

  Comment by john — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 11:52am PST  Reply to this post

• Netflix should get out of the 28 day window that it has with most studios.

  Comment by jake — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 12:02pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Even with the 28 day window Netflix is still so hassle free and accesible; you will never have a cable guy squatting in your living room again or have to worry about hail on satellite dish. The studios keep reigning in Hulu, so that’s allowing Netflix to feed the massive demand for content. Seems the studios still think the world is flat.

    Comment by HappyDance — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 3:20pm PST  Reply to this post

• This is really about the back end of the business, DVD sales. DVD sales are down by a signifigant percentage, and the boys are Blaming Netflix and to a degree Red Box. The big Studios also do not want streaming to interfere with thier revenue stream but it is the Studios and HBO to a certain extent which are dooming thier own enterprise. If they want to make more money allow content to be streamed sooner and for less of a fee. There will be droves of buyer for content that is available sooner. DVD’s are now for collectors, everyone else wants streamed content.

  Comment by richb313 — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 1:25pm PST  Reply to this post

• Not likely true in the long run. Higher prices paid to studios for content in the pay window will get passed along to customers one way or the other. Either Netflux or HBO will get more expensive to cover the higher programming cost or

  Comment by Mcdonald — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 1:27pm PST  Reply to this post

• Warner Bros seems to really have its head up its ass when it comes to how important Netflix is in films being seen. I mean, back in the days of Blockbuster when that was the best thing around you could almost never see the old or obscure stuff either because Blockbuster simply couldn’t stock such a variation on their shelves or else Blockbuster outright refused to stuck many movies. I gave up on them when they butchered one too many movies to make them “family-friendly”. But now with Netflix it’s much easier to see so many more movies (un-butchered) and, with the suggestions as well, people are being introduced to movies they normally wouldn’t have seen. Warner Bros needs to get with the times and quit playing games like prolonging Blockbuster’s death by giving them that stupid 30 day window. If Blockbuster was a dog, you’d have it put to sleep. Put the poor thing out of its misery.

  Comment by Basil — Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 2:58pm PST  Reply to this post

• I think there may be ulterior motives here. Netflix still badly wants to offer old HBO series in it’s streaming service. HBO has rebuffed their offers for a couple of years now. If they take away HBO’s exclusive stream of WB movies, it will impact their ability to fill the hours without repeating movies more often they they already do. It could put a little more pressure on them to make a deal with Netflix for the old shows in exchange for, at the very least, not bidding up the price of the WB movie package.

  HBO should instead be making deals with AppleTV, GoogleTV, and Roku, where they can get their price for the old series in dedicated subscription fees, instead of the all for one price Netflix.

  Comment by rjdriver — Wednesday January 26, 2011 @ 4:04am PST  Reply to this post