Netflix's Ted Sarandos on Future of HBO Max as He Fights to Seal WB Deal
Variety • • business
Key Points:
- Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is actively advocating for Netflix’s $83 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), dismissing Paramount Skydance’s competing offer as unclear and less credible.
- Sarandos emphasizes Netflix’s commitment to preserving the 45-day theatrical window and maintaining existing paid download windows, ensuring no streaming on Netflix or HBO immediately after theatrical release.
- He highlights Netflix’s strategy to run Warner Bros. and HBO largely as they are today, focusing on expanding production and jobs rather than cutting costs, contrasting this with Paramount’s proposed large-scale cost reductions.
- Sarandos identifies YouTube as a major competitor for viewer attention on TV screens, underscoring Netflix’s long-standing awareness of this competition, which he believes
