{"id":170361,"date":"2025-12-06T01:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170361\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T01:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:15:08","slug":"what-happens-to-hbo-under-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/170361\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens to HBO Under Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAmong the many burning questions about Netflix<\/a>\u2018s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. is: What would happen to HBO<\/a> Max? Would customers continue to subscribe to both, or would it ultimately roll into Netflix?<\/p>\n

\n\tAt least immediately, Netflix has said HBO Max<\/a> would continue as a separate entity \u2014 but makes no promises that it wouldn\u2019t ultimately be consumed into Netflix. HBO becoming a tile on Netflix, just like Hulu being slowly taken over by Disney+, is a likely possibility.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut here\u2019s one that no one seems to be asking: What about the linear HBO service? You know, the pioneering network that essentially ushered in the cable age when it launched in 1972? HBO, the channel that revolutionized \u201cprestige TV\u201d with \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d and everything that came after that?<\/p>\n

\n\tEven if HBO as a brand survives this merger, the idea of HBO as a standalone enterprise may soon be history. And it would also pretty much double as the last nail in the coffin of \u201cpremium cable\u201d as we knew it. <\/p>\n

\n\tAlready, Paramount has destroyed the one-vibrant Showtime brand \u2014 first, by killing the standalone Showtime app, and then even renaming to remaining linear channel to \u201cParamount + With Showtime.\u201d Now, there\u2019s no Showtime infrastructure to speak of, and the cabler\u2019s last remaining shows \u2014 like the \u201cDexter\u201d spinoffs and \u201cYellowjackets\u201d \u2014 are instead promoted as Paramount+ originals. Showtime, a flagship premium cable network that first launched in 1976, may live on in bits of leftover branding in some corners of the media universe, but it\u2019s mostly dead.<\/p>\n

\n\tFX wasn\u2019t officially a premium cable network since it\u2019s free on basic cable, but it evolved into a \u201cpremium\u201d brand, inspired by the success of HBO in delivering its own diet of high-end, quality fare. Like HBO, FX changed the programming game and for a moment made basic cable a hot place for creators to bring their passion projects, as did AMC during the \u201cMad Men\u201d and \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d eras. FX still exists, but mostly as a tile on Hulu. Not all of FX\u2019s fare airs on the linear channel \u2014 which now mostly schedules library movies and repeats. When people talk about \u201cFX,\u201d they\u2019re not talking about the linear channel anymore. (Meanwhile, with the writing on the wall for linear, AMC has attempted to migrate its viewers to its AMC+ streamer, with mixed results.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the smaller premium channels, MGM+ remains a linear\/stream hybrid under Amazon ownership, while Starz also programs a linear suite of channels, even as it prefers to focus on its digital platform. But both would prefer you think of them as digital brands, not legacy TV channels.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd that brings us to HBO. Even under Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>, the pay cabler has been pulling back on its linear offerings: Earlier this year, the company shut down multiplex networks including HBO Family, ThrillerMax, MovieMax and OuterMax. <\/p>\n

\n\tThose cuts came from a company with leadership that was rooted in cable. Imagine, now, how much patience Netflix\u2019s Ted Sarandos might have for what\u2019s left in the HBO linear stable. (The answer? Not much.) Sarandos and Netflix have never shown any interest in owning or operating linear properties, after all. Netflix purposely didn\u2019t include the channels being spun off by the \u201cDiscovery\u201d portion of \u201cWarner Bros. Discovery\u201d in its bid. So how long would it tolerate programming HBO linear, rather than forcing those remaining customers to move to digital?<\/p>\n

\n\tRight now, HBO linear subscribers still get free access to HBO Max \u2014 which was part of the promise of HBO Max when it initially launched in 2020. Would Netflix put up with those hybrid linear customers accessing the streamer that way? When it comes to cutting costs in the merger, will Netflix decide having a linear network infrastructure still makes sense, or will it be an easy thing to whack off the spreadsheets and the bottom line?<\/p>\n

\n\tJust like the sunsetting era of basic cable, the fate of premium cable perhaps had already been sealed no matter what. In 2024, HBO averaged just 154,000 viewers in primetime \u2014 down 7% from the previous year, but a huge slide from recent years (including 726,000. in 2017) as viewership continued its migration to streaming.<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix launched its original programming efforts in the early 2010s by emulating the HBO model \u2014 starting with high-end fare like \u201cHouse of Cards.\u201d It wanted to out-HBO HBO, and eventually got so big that it went from boutique to warehouse. Now, Netflix has out-broadcast the broadcast networks instead, while HBO remains a high-end bespoke destination, but mostly on HBO Max. Netflix garners a large awards nomination haul thanks to its sheer output volume, but HBO also dominates thanks to its quality curation. <\/p>\n

\n\tIf Netflix does buy Warner Bros., it will be only a matter of time until premium cable dies. HBO would be just one more brand to add to the Netflix\u2019s bulging menu, alongside the WWE, the NFL and more. The narrative of Netflix vs. HBO has ruled over TV discourse, particularly in the awards space, for more than a decade. But now Netflix might not have to\u00a0be\u00a0HBO anymore, nor would it have to beat it \u2014 instead, it would just consume it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the many burning questions about Netflix\u2018s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. is: What would happen to HBO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,2592,3484,1094,111,139,69,437,3204],"class_list":{"0":"post-170361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hbo","10":"tag-hbo-max","11":"tag-netflix","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-tv","16":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}