Netflix, Paramount in a game of thrones

What does the sale of Warner Bros Discovery to Netflix or to Paramount mean for India? Time to recalibrate your viewing

- VANITA KOHLI-KHANDEKAR

The White Lotus, Sopranos, Mare of Easttown and Game of Thrones are among dozens of HBO Max shows that might leave Jio Hotstar over the next 12-18 months.

And The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries and Two and a Half Men among others could exit Amazon Prime Video.

That is if the $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which owns these titles, by Netflix goes through. On December 5, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO, president and director of Netflix announced that it is buying “Warner Bros Discovery’s film and TV studios, HBO Max and HBO.” The deal does not include most of Warner's linear television networks like Discovery Global or TNT.

On December 8, Paramount, which had been thwarted in its attempts to buy Warner earlier in the year, launched a hostile bid at $108 billion.

If Netflix and Warner combine, it will create a player with an estimated $70 billion in revenue. If it’s Paramount and Warner, that figure is $79 billion, making it the largest in the entertainment space globally. It would be ahead of YouTube ($61 billion) and The Walt Disney Company, which, excluding parks and experiences, is at $58 billion, said a Media Partners Asia (MPA) research note.

“This deal is largely about the United States and Hollywood/English language franchises. I don’t think it’s going to significantly change Netflix’s life in India. Its Indian journey is about how to penetrate more households with local entertainment and content and, potentially, also with sports,” said Vivek Couto, CEO and executive director, MPA. Parry Ravindranath an, CEO and cofounder of Converj and former president and managing director, Bloomberg Media, international, agrees; “Whether the Warner Brothers deal happens with Netflix or Paramount, it makes no material difference to the Indian media landscape.”

The small-screen impact