The entertainment world is still abuzz from Friday’s announcement that Netflix has agreed to an $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., including HBO and HBO Max.
It will take a while for the sale to be finalized, which means consumers will continue to play separate subscription fees for each service. But what about once the merger is complete?
There was understandable speculation about the future of HBO Max as a standalone entity, which Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav attempted to address during a town hall with employees Friday.
HBO Max will live on, says Zaslav
According to Variety, Zaslav told Warner Bros. employees that “HBO Max will stay,” at least as of now.
“So anybody that has Netflix and has HBO Max will have a better experience,” Zaslav said. “For people that only want HBO Max, they’ll be able to get it. And Channing [Dungey] and the whole [Warner Bros.] TV production team will be producing content for others and for HBO and for Netflix. And I think for Netflix, they will now be the biggest maker of content with one of the greatest storytelling library in the world, together with their platform.”
Netflix confirms its plan in message to subscribers
Netflix addressed its own customers in a letter released Saturday morning, maintaining that the status quo will be preserved for now.
“Nothing is changing today. Both streaming services will continue to operate separately,” Netflix said. “We have more steps to complete before the deal is closed, including regulatory and shareholder approvals. You’ll hear from us when we have more to share. In the meantime, we hope you’ll continue to enjoy watching as much as you want, whenever you want – all on your current membership plan.”
How long will this setup exist?
Is it possible that this arrangement will change in the future? Of course.
Netflix has already added some of HBO’s post popular shows to its catalog, with more on the way. Down the road, it certainly wouldn’t surprise us to see the two services fully combine, meaning HBO Max would seek to exist as a standalone app.
That time doesn’t appear to be on the horizon anytime soon though.
