Former Amazon Studios Head Issues Major Warning on Netflix

Last week, Netflix made a groundbreaking announcement as the streaming giant shared that it was moving forward with acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. in a deal that included both HBO Max and HBO.

While Netflix is obviously excited about the deal and has already sent a message to its customers, the deal has already been met with some pushback from key political figures on both sides of the aisle. Now, one studio head has warned that if the acquisition goes through, it would be bad for the entire industry.

Netflix Announces the New Deal

Netflix officially announced the new, groundbreaking acquisition on Friday morning.

“Today, Netflix, Inc. (the Company) and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO,” the company announced in a press release on Dec. 5.

Netflix’s co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos also issued statements on the deal, expressing optimism about the acquisition.

“This acquisition will improve our offering and accelerate our business for decades to come,” Peters said in the release.

“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” Sarandos said in the release. “By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies—from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends—with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we’ll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

Deal Receives Political Pushback

Despite the announcement, the deal received plenty of pushback and questions from key political figures in both parties, including United States President Donald Trump.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have already begun speaking out against the deal.

“This deal looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare,” Warren said after the Netflix announcement.

“A lot of antitrust red flags here. A hearing is almost certain. Stay tuned,” Lee said in a social media post earlier this week.

Even Trump warned that the deal “could be a problem.”

“Well, that’s got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said of the deal, via Bloomberg. “But it is a big market share. It could be a problem.”

Former Amazon Studios Exec Issues Warning

While the deal will undoubtedly face some antitrust challenges, it's also receiving pushback from key figures in the entertainment industry.

Paramount is looking to make a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery to combat the merger, and one notable studio executive is speaking out about what this could mean for the industry.

In a New York Times op-ed published on Saturday, former Amazon Studios head Roy Price, who is now chief executive of the studio International Art Machine, pointed out that there have been many things that threatened to potentially kill the film industry, like TV, home video, streaming, and AI. However, he warns that this deal could finally do just that.

“But if Netflix acquires Warner Bros., this long-prophesied death may finally arrive, not in the sense that filmmaking will cease but in the sense that Hollywood will become a system that circles a single sun, materially changing its cultural output,” he added. “All orbits—every deal, every creative decision, every creative career—will increasingly revolve around the gravitational mass and imprimatur of one entity.”

The centralization is a problem for the entire industry, Price warned.

“A Netflix merger with Warner Bros. would create a monopsony problem: too few buyers with too much bargaining power,” Price explained. “Writers, directors, actors, showrunners, puppeteers, visual effects artists—all are suppliers. The fewer buyers competing to hire them, the lower their compensation and the narrower their opportunities.”

Clearly, the film and television industry is not ecstatic about the possibility of this merger.