Larry Ellison, who's certainly involved, wants to add CNN to his pro-Israel network of networks, this much is obvious. This despite the fact that no one under 40 pays any attention to CNN, or CBS, or what have you. It's still an area where he wants to flex his muscles.
Netflix didn't want CNN, though, which probably means that the Ellisons could have bought it separately. So Larry Ellison seems to be supporting the ambitions of son David. And David actually does want to be a big studio head.
Looking into Skydance Media, though...They've backed some hits, but these were mostly part of established franchises. Other movies weren't hits. But in both cases, they've been silent partner financers. They haven't actually been in distribution, which is what a film studio primarily does. What I take away is that while the Paramount people have the money to do this takeover, there's not much reason to expect it to work in the long run.
2 comments:
I love watching movies but I can't say I've thought much about this deal. It would appear you're right that a Netflix purchase may have been marginally better from a financial perspective but the fact is the company hasn't proven to be exactly visionary makes me doubt they'd be any more successful. But what do I know, anyway - I've just read that Netflix is the most successful streaming service in the world. Boy, we're in worse trouble than I'd imagined.
Warner has a long history with film production but never figured out how to deal with the switch many people made to watching movies on their tv sets. I don't envision any modern corporation bringing back theaters but considering how corrupt this whole process has been, the results of bad people remaking reality in culture is deeply saddening. Besides, the merger will raise prices, eliminate thousands of jobs, lower competition, and take away consumer choices.
The last I heard CNN had an average daily viewership of about half a million people. Not a good bet for a new owner since it's losing ground every day, but Larry Ellison is a big supporter of Israel so I guess he feels owning the network will give him an ideological boost. Control of the Washingon Post hasn't served Bezos that well so we'll see what happens.
I've looked at the list of movies Skydance has supported and can't say any of them are very impressive. I agree with you there's not much reason there to expect the takeover to work in the long term.
It's not too surprising that Netflix is the most successful of the streaming companies. They were the first to build up an extensive library, and made a big deal of the convenience of their service. Their Achilles heel is that a lot of stuff gets lost in the shuffle, and they're very reluctant to leave movies in the theater for an extended period, even if it makes for better publicity.
Lower competition and lost jobs are a depressingly common aspect of big mergers. The sad thing is that you can't even say the government is just letting the free market work, since they actively encourage certain mergers, including this one. You're probably right that theaters are on their own for the foreseeable future.
It's kind of crazy to remember that 20-30 years ago CNN was considered one of the great powerhouses of the cable TV world. Of course cable itself has gone through a precipitous decline. I guess there's still propaganda potential in it, mostly because its headlines will get plastered across social media. But as with the Washington Post, it might turn out to be kind of a fizzle for the owner.
One of the great constants of the human condition is hubris. It looks to be playing out here too.
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