Is Universal still bidding? I feel like they are the only "good" option left

I’ll break it down in a few points:

1. Paramount is in bed with the Trump Administration. This could potentially land us in a world where that influence is all over WB movies.
2. Saudi Blood Money would be funding these projects if they win out.

Now to explain why Netflix might be a better suitor
1. Netflix themselves said that they would continue to release WB movies in theaters.
2. Netflix isn’t totally against theatrical. In fact I’ve seen 2 Netflix films in theaters last month and I just bought tickets to go see the Stranger Things finale in theaters, which is totally selling out everywhere in its 1 day run. They could see that success and see value in theatrical.
3. Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav seem to be getting along. Which could lead to Zaslav keeping his job and running WB as is even after the sale.

While I’m at it I’ll go ahead and list why I feel Comcast would be the best of a bad situation.
1. No political influence in how things would be run
2. Universal clearly values theatrical and would definitely continue releasing their films in theaters (Paramount would too, but again not a fan of them)
3. The theme park aspect. Universal could easily use WB IP in their parks. They already have a great thing going with the Potter parks. Also, just kind of as a side part to it, Uni could replace the Marvel lands with a DC land at IOA and Marvel could come to Disney World.

Last page I put their proposal as reported by Bloomberg

I agree with you that Comcast seems like by far the best of the bunch, but I think the Paramount fears are a little overblown. This is the same company that just gave South Park a billion dollars to show Trump with a micropenis having s***with the devil.

It’s not like Hollywood isn’t already controlled by conservative executives. Zaslav is a huge republican and look what WB has put out this year.

Knew I could count on you for a smooth breakdown :​

The thought of movies laced with Taylor Sheridan type monologues is hilarious

And zaslav MUST be stopped at all costs lmao

Good point

sumn sumn capitalism co-opts its own criticism

even if paramount is marginally amenable with its full scale alt right propagandizing agenda, ure just setting the precedent to give a trump backed-ellison family conglomerate more monopolizing power after a media giant merger just this year and their forthcoming acquisition of tiktok. who says it stops there?

then last we heard comcast (ceo) is also seeking saudi funds (PIF) + their company has a larger debt ($93 bil) than PS so they're even more susceptible to potential foreign demand / influence on what regressive s*** ultimately gets made

I look at Paramount like this. Yes, they are giving Matt and Trey a s*** ton of money so they can continue on. But there is a lot more bad behind that.

Let me put my journalism minor to work here.

David Ellison's (head of Paramount) father Larry (founder of Oracle) is a huge Republican donor and has spoken at the White House multiple times during this Administration. Oracle is also one of the companies who purchased the US government backed version of Tik Tok. Giving government oversight into a social media app.

But then we look at CBS News. The Ellisons named Bari Weiss as the new Editor in Chief over at CBS News. Weiss was the EIC at The Free Press, a smaller news outlet that was very conservative leaning (not like OAN far but like Fox News far). CBS News is in the process of overhauling their whole operation, in doing so they are bringing in new talent to the outlet, even going as far as courting Fox News' Bret Baier. She asked the senior staff at 60 Minutes why the country thinks they are biased. Something CBS has never really been accused of being before. In most media bias charts I have studied, they are very center in terms of their coverage, close to the likes of AP and Reuters.

Since the Ellisons have taken over Paramount, 60 Minutes had to pay a settlement out to Trump for "editing an interview" with Kamala Harris in last year's election. Paramount+ has picked up the rights to UFC (very conservative leaning). Makan Delrahim (former Trump administration official) has been in talks to join Paramount Global.

All these factors and more are leading to a more politically biased movie studio. I'm not saying that there hasn't been a "liberal" agenda in Hollywood, but we're talking about a media company having direct ties to the government. Something that makes the United States government more and more akin to an authoritarian government.

Fox News is one thing, but that is a clear ratings ploy that's been working. Fox News stuff never really influenced 20th Century Fox's films when they were one company, but Fox News wasn't going all out Republican feeder system with their reporting before the Fox Movie studio was sold. They went into overdrive after when it comes to being an arm of the Trump admin. But even then, to my knowledge, there haven't been and former officials working for them.

With a movie studio so tied together with a news outlet in a corporate structure that has actual government ties in many ways, there is a strong possibility that those ties can influence the product in one way or another.

I personally believe, media and politics should be separate to a degree. Yes, media should still discuss politics and tell stories about them. But the government should have no control over what the media does, and that's the fear I have here with Paramount. That, for me, outweighs the death of theatrical (which I won't believe will immediately happen with Netflix).

For some context to a part of my "essay", here's the latest Ad Fontes Media Bias chart

netflix hbo max bundle would be so daddy

Bundle?

HBO Max is disappearing into the nether and Netflix is going to cost $45

would 'hbo' as a moniker go away? and if it stays, how would they bifurcate between new hbo stuff and the 'netflix original' label they seem to be retiring?

Netflix Max

I think that all depends on if they keep Casey Bloys and the HBO team around

Part of me thinks whoever gets it will keep the HBO Brand and kill the service regardless

right, 'hbo' team/branding staying while the titular streaming app dies seems like a foregone conclusion. i'm just wondering how netflix plans to integrate/differentiate/denominate all of HBO's media/new IP with their own existing catalog

na i think max stays
Netflix is already too convoluted adding more content will make it overwhelming but probably makes sense so they not moving content back and forth

Doubt it

Netflix Original isn’t a strategic tag anymore because it’s meaningless to subscribers in 2025. It doesn’t hint at if the product will be of a higher quality, unique or even directly produced by Netflix vs purchased, etc… Netflix also produces like 100 shows and films a year

Last I recall, HBO original shows still have those tags currently on Netflix. Some of their content is licensed over. It’s a brand that still clings to the premium TV experience and means something for viewers. Far smaller and contained catalogue

So far it seems like Netflix have a high chance of getting WB and Paramount doesn't like that, so if that ends up happening, The Ellisons will just go straight to the shareholders and get WBD instead

Then we got Comcast ready to merge NBCU into WB. The second round bid is something.

This a depressing ass thread... got damn.

I wouldn’t consider CNN being in the hands of the Ellisons much of a loss

Kalshi is promoted so much on Twitter I just know it ain't no good.

It got ties with Trump Jr
And there's this

The saudis-arabs gotta buy that