EXPERT ADVISORY — December 10, 2025 — R0141

When Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced a showstopping US$72 billion sales deal last week, Liz Clarke took notice.

The Brock University Associate Professor of Popular Culture and Film says entertainment mergers and acquisitions have always been dramatic, dating back to the old Hollywood studio system of the 1920s and ’30s. Back then, she says, a few major studios controlled not only production and talent but also the distribution and exhibition of films.

“In 1948, a legal decision called the Paramount Decree deemed the vertical integration of the studio system to be too centralized and forced studios to sell off one of the branches of their business,” the film historian says. “So the studios chose to sell off the exhibition part of their business: the theatres.”

It isn’t lost on Clarke that Paramount is once again a player in the current dealmaking underway when it comes to WBD, with Paramount Skydance mounting its hostile takeover bid just days after the deal with Netflix was announced.  

Whereas Netflix only plans to purchase the studio and streaming arms of WBD — which includes franchises like The Lord of the Rings and original HBO programming like Game of Thrones — Paramount Skydance seeks to also purchase its traditional television stations, including CNN.

Paramount Skydance’s previous attempts to purchase WBD during closed-door meetings were rejected. What makes this latest effort a hostile bid is that Paramount is now publicly appealing to WBD shareholders with an aggressive, all-cash deal. 

Clarke says none of this would have been possible under the Paramount Decree. In the 1980s, however, deregulation opened up the possibility of vertical integration once again — but by then, studios were no longer interested.

Instead, horizontal integration with technology companies — which produced gaming systems and home entertainment equipment as well as physical media with movies, television shows and video games to play on them — was far more appealing.

By the 2010s, studio priorities had changed again, Clarke says, with almost all of them involved in a series of media mergers and acquisitions leading to the concentration of a few big conglomerates with varied entertainment holdings. 

While it may be surprising to see Netflix as a player in this historic arena, the centralization of ownership is not new — and consumers generally lose out, she says.  

“In some instances, you end up with something unique and interesting that can happen in terms of transmedia storytelling, as in the Marvel cinematic universe where blockbuster films, long-running TV shows and various other types of merchandise can all speak to each other,” Clarke says. “But what we see — with Marvel and other examples — is that you also end up with something very monotone and dominant in terms of culture.” 

Whether Netflix or Paramount Skydance is ultimately successful in acquiring WBD, Clarke says it’s unlikely consumers will see any net benefit. In either case, significant consolidation of streaming television and film content would take place. 

“I’m going to guess that we’re going to see much more of what caused us to switch from cable television to streamers in the first place, with companies portioning out segments of niche content and charging extra for each,” she says. “We’ve seen that with other streamers like Prime and Apple, so I would hazard a guess that if Netflix is successful, they would once again change their funding model to Netflix BASIC or Netflix with HBO. If you want the upgrade of Netflix with the HBO and classic Warner Bros film content, you can pay more for that, too.” 

Liz Clarke, Brock University Associate Professor of Popular Culture and Film, is available for media interviews on this topic.

For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

*Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483 

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