"Last month, HBO boss Casey Bloys stood in front of an auditorium full of reporters and told them what everyone already knew: Netflix had won the streaming wars. "To Netflix's credit, as the first mover, they have become a utility. For consumers, it is the basic cable of today," he said. But Bloys wasn't surrendering - he was pitching: HBO was still valuable, just like it was in the old cable days, when the only way you could get HBO was to get basic cable as well. "In today's world, consumers still want to add to their entertainment portfolio," he said. Translation: OK, we know you're getting Netflix. But you should also buy HBO, too."
"But the most logical way this would play out would be something like this: Netflix continues to offer the service now called HBO Max to anyone who wants it - whether or not they subscribe to Netflix - and then offers it to Netflix customers at a discount. A real bundle. A Netflix version of "basic cable + HBO.""
""We think the HBO brand is very powerful for consumers. We think that the offering could constitute and would constitute part of our plans and how we structure those for consumers"
Netflix is pursuing an $83 billion acquisition of HBO and the Warner studio with the intention of integrating HBO as a valuable premium arm of its business. Netflix has become a streaming utility that many consumers treat as the basic subscription, while HBO functions as an add-on premium offering. A likely integration strategy is to maintain HBO Max as a standalone service while also bundling it into Netflix plans at a discount, creating a Netflix "basic cable + HBO" option. Final structure and timing remain subject to the deal closing and subsequent integration decisions.
Read at Business Insider
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