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Madkal posted:How the gently caress does a company get 50 billion dollars worth of debt? Discovery borrowed 30 billion dollars to buy Warner. https://deadline.com/2022/03/discovery-debt-sale-warnermedia-merger-att-1234974970/ Warner itself had a bunch of debt from amongst other stuff the $40bn AT&T borrowed to buy TimeWarner. Maybe in a few years they can sell it to someone else, who will borrow even more. Unless they go bankrupt first. From where I am sitting, this company looks enormously hosed, and I assume some execs are getting rich off of it. Fangz fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Aug 15, 2022 |
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Aug 15, 2022 22:23
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Will anyone let me borrow 30 billion dollars? I'm gonna buy a company and I'll pay you back after I fire a bunch of people
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Aug 15, 2022 22:50
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Verizon gave me Disney+ for free so I am catching up on Marvel Content and feel like talking about Eternals 10 months later. I'm sure I have nothing new to add but: what an interesting failure of a movie. There is good stuff in here and I get why some people respond to it, but the whole package really didn't work for me. I feel like I'd rather watch either a super deep treatment of the Kirby Ancient Aliens Gnosticism ideas (you could make whole movies about how regular old humans react to "the earth is an egg for a space god" that don't need any CGI fights), or a well-shot Chloe Zhou domestic drama about, like, Brian Tyree Henry's adorable family. But what we get is atrocious pacing, a few block-of-wood-in-front-of-a-greenscreen performances, and a last act that inexplicably drops several characters. And while I'm glad Marvel took a big swing on this, more than any of their movies this one would be strictly improved being outside the shared universe (which I guess tracks the original comics as well). Omnomnomnivore fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Aug 15, 2022 |
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Aug 15, 2022 23:02
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For all intents and purposes, it is. It doesn't address the wider MCU at all until the end.
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Aug 15, 2022 23:35
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Fangz posted:Discovery borrowed 30 billion dollars to buy Warner. It’s what killed Toys ‘R Us too and it’s such naked bullshit.
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Aug 16, 2022 00:42
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CapnAndy posted:There’s a lot of poo poo in capitalism that ought to be illegal, but goddamn if “borrow money to buy a company, give the debt to the company you just bought so now you’re free and clear, proceed to tear company apart for having so much debt that it didn’t have until you borrowed the money without their consent” isn’t way, way up near the top of the list. Warner and Discovery merged. They paid out the Warner shareholders to buy out their shares. It's a new public company. The Toys 'R Us situation is different. That was a venture capital firm who bought the company while it was dying to kill it quickly while it still had value, rather than dying slowly and losing value. They took Toys 'R Us private in order to do so.
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Aug 16, 2022 00:46
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Lunatic Sledge posted:Will anyone let me borrow 30 billion dollars? I'm gonna buy a company and I'll pay you back after I fire a bunch of people It feels like it should be a thing we should all be able to do. "Billions" is already imaginary, impossible amounts of money that are leveraged against things like "value" and "worth" so like, I should be able to borrow a couple billion dollars and do whatever I want with it. Then when whoever wants to collect, I just give them stock or I sign a piece of paper that says they are now a few billion dollars richer, and that means something because I'm now a billionaire worth billions. But for some reason I can't do this?
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Aug 16, 2022 01:39
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I had to spend a year using a credit card to build up enough credit to get approved for a home loan with my partner. No, our ten years of paying rent on time and in full doesn't count.
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Aug 16, 2022 02:39
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Warner Brothers/Discovery just released a statement saying that Ezra Miller has apologized, is seeking therapy, and WB/D support them on their journey. They also released a short written statement of apology from Ezra's manager: quote:“Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment,” Miller says. “I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”
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Aug 16, 2022 04:19
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I don't think I understand why HBO and HBO Max are apparently at each other's throats or cannibalising each other with too much overlap or whatever, they seem like two different approaches to content with different expectations. But then again, sometimes I think I don't want to understand business because it's all so loving dumb.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:21
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They're going to have to lock Miller in the Phantom Zone until the premiere, because if any more stories come out, jesus christ
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Aug 16, 2022 04:23
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catlord posted:I don't think I understand why HBO and HBO Max are apparently at each other's throats or cannibalising each other with too much overlap or whatever, they seem like two different approaches to content with different expectations. But then again, sometimes I think I don't want to understand business because it's all so loving dumb. The short version is that the new management doesn't think that spending a ton of money on high-quality original programming for streaming makes sense because they can't monetize it. The only way those shows can ever make even a tiny fraction of their budget back is to be a Stranger Things level success that causes a ton of new people to subscribe just for that show. And they don't think that is a risk worth taking for shows that cost $45 million to make. This is even more true for original movies. They are pivoting back to a focus entirely on theatrical releases that they can extract the maximum amount of money from. Their vision for HBO Max is a place to view the back catalogue of movies and TV shows; not to use it to premiere original shows and movies. Even if there is a small drop off in subscribers, they think that most people will be staying with the service and the loss will be smaller than the loss from funding multiple $35 million shows or $90 million movies that are streaming exclusives.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:28
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Arist posted:They're going to have to lock Miller in the Phantom Zone until the premiere, because if any more stories come out, jesus christ Well if nothing else the "I'm having a bad time but this isn't normal for me and I'm getting help" statement is going to be going up against the "You have been grooming our child since they were 12" statement. They are hoping Ezra sits down and shuts up but it really depends what comes out around that. I mean ideally the outcome for this is "They get the help they need" but I'm not sure you can escape the cult/grooming accusations with just a "It happens."
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Aug 16, 2022 04:30
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i would have expected the pr rehab to be much closer to release in case, uhh... anything else happens between now and then
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Aug 16, 2022 04:37
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site posted:i would have expected the pr rehab to be much closer to release in case, uhh... anything else happens between now and then I think they reached the point where they had to say or do something because it was reaching a critical breaking point.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:39
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:The short version is that the new management doesn't think that spending a ton of money on high-quality original programming for streaming makes sense because they can't monetize it. The only way those shows can ever make even a tiny fraction of their budget back is to be a Stranger Things level success that causes a ton of new people to subscribe just for that show. And they don't think that is a risk worth taking for shows that cost $45 million to make. This is even more true for original movies. Yeah, I get that bit. Looking back at what was written it's less overlapping content and more overlapping development groups, but I don't know. This all just seems like absolute dumbassery that's gonna ruin everything that they've tried to build.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:39
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There's no way Ezra actually wrote that statement.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:41
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Opopanax posted:There's no way Ezra actually wrote that statement. Does anyone famous?
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Aug 16, 2022 04:44
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:The short version is that the new management doesn't think that spending a ton of money on high-quality original programming for streaming makes sense because they can't monetize it. The only way those shows can ever make even a tiny fraction of their budget back is to be a Stranger Things level success that causes a ton of new people to subscribe just for that show.
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Aug 16, 2022 04:49
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:The short version is that the new management doesn't think that spending a ton of money on high-quality original programming for streaming makes sense because they can't monetize it. The only way those shows can ever make even a tiny fraction of their budget back is to be a Stranger Things level success that causes a ton of new people to subscribe just for that show. And they don't think that is a risk worth taking for shows that cost $45 million to make. This is even more true for original movies. The funny thing is, that's exactly the model that HBO's always used.
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Aug 16, 2022 05:28
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howe_sam posted:The funny thing is, that's exactly the model that HBO's always used. Yeah, it is a little ironic. But, that is also part of their explanation for the demolition of all original HBO Max content. They say they already have HBO for that.
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Aug 16, 2022 05:32
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WBD isn't wrong that it's very expensive to do exclusive streaming content, and it may not be profitable, but that's the current environment we exist in and them denying it is just stupid to me. You are basically surrendering one of the best streaming services to supposedly save money. It's very short-sighted.
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Aug 16, 2022 05:54
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HBO/Disc cancelling new projects is basically saying when you see everything on the service that you want to see then you should just cancel immediately because there isn't going to be anymore service only stuff. If I want to see the The Batman I've got options but if I want to see Peacemaker I have to pay for their service. Once signed up for the promise of more exclusive stuff to trickle in than I may just never cancel. If I do cancel and no new exclusive content is there then I have no real incentive to sign up again once out. It's going to be a classic business death spiral. The streaming service is just destined to bleed customers under this plan. E: I keep forgetting that they plan to keep doing new unscripted and Reality TV shows mainly because I have zero interest in that stuff personally. New content like that alone won't save the combined service since Discovery+ had less subscribers* (D+ 53m v HM 73m) and was losing subscribers* ( D+ -300k vs HM +3m). *quick google figures may not be completely accurate. E. Revenant fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Aug 16, 2022 |
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Aug 16, 2022 08:31
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The irritating part of just keeping HBO Max (beyond everything else) as 'this is where we keep old stuff' is they don't even consistently keep everything they've released on it! They could have a massive catalogue of stuff people would probably keep subscribed to for out of sheer laziness so they don't have to go hunt down movies and series, not unlike I did when Netflix had The Office.
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Aug 16, 2022 13:02
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Dawgstar posted:The irritating part of just keeping HBO Max (beyond everything else) as 'this is where we keep old stuff' is they don't even consistently keep everything they've released on it! They could have a massive catalogue of stuff people would probably keep subscribed to for out of sheer laziness so they don't have to go hunt down movies and series, not unlike I did when Netflix had The Office. If there's no place to watch episodes of Dream On then the executives all need a good slap. 
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Aug 16, 2022 13:39
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I can only achieve an erection by watching a horse die so it's very important that I can stream 'Luck' whenever I need to
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Aug 16, 2022 14:11
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:I can only achieve an erection by watching a horse die so it's very important that I can stream 'Luck' whenever I need to HBO Max also has The Neverending Story 
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Aug 16, 2022 14:17
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Re: The Batman thing. Doesn't pretty much every major film that makes any money have at least one person come out of the woodwork and claim their idea was stolen on the flimsiest of evidence. It only occasionally gets reported on if it's a slow news day, but I'd gotten the impression it was absolutely routine, and it never goes anywhere.
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Aug 16, 2022 14:24
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:I can only achieve an erection by watching a horse die so it's very important that I can stream 'Luck' whenever I need to They do have that episode of The Sopranos.
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Aug 16, 2022 14:27
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Deptfordx posted:Re: The Batman thing. I mean, the Michael Bay organ theft movie got sued for 7 figures by Parts: The Clonus Horror people.
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Aug 16, 2022 14:29
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This will most likely only impact the limited amount of WB TV series and not the movies, but WB/D sold off their majority ownership of The CW network. They plan to still partner with Nexstar to produce content "when appropriate." One other surprising thing that came out during the financial disclosures is that, despite the reputation for teen girl dramas, modeling reality shows, and superhero dramas, the average CW viewer is a 58-year old male. https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1559142719691399170
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Aug 16, 2022 14:40
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On the one hand it pisses me off whenever I go Netflix to look for a movie that I just have an urge to see and Netflix goes "lol we don't have that watch one of original movies instead" so I get the desire to have just a back catalog of already made stuff, but you still got to differentiate yourself from the competition.
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Aug 16, 2022 14:43
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:
"Despite"? Or because of?
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Aug 16, 2022 14:43
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Madkal posted:On the one hand it pisses me off whenever I go Netflix to look for a movie that I just have an urge to see and Netflix goes "lol we don't have that watch one of original movies instead" so I get the desire to have just a back catalog of already made stuff, but you still got to differentiate yourself from the competition. I mean the best part of Disney Plus is that they pretty much have their entire back catalogue (with very few but notable exceptions). I don't have HBO Max (not in UK) but I gather it wasn't like that? Just curated WB films, but if it had everything then that would be amazing, whatever mood you're, whether for a 30s gangster film for The Shining or Batman it would all be there. That would be the main selling point for me, though obviously many would differ. I don't know why they didn't offer that service though.
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Aug 16, 2022 15:30
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The problem non-Disney streaming services have run into is that sometimes they'll have already licensed their back catalog out. Like how despite it being one of Paramount's biggest shows Paramount Plus does not have the mainline Yellowstone series.
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Aug 16, 2022 15:38
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Deptfordx posted:Re: The Batman thing. I remember 30 goddamn years ago there was some HBO news or MTV news thing about someone claiming Eddie Murphy stole "Boomerang" from him. The reason I remember this is because Eddie's mocking delivery of "THAT'S MINE!!!! THAT....IS MIIIINE!" when talking about it has lived in my head ever since. I forget what day my mother's birthday is every single year, but this isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
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Aug 16, 2022 16:06
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:I remember 30 goddamn years ago there was some HBO news or MTV news thing about someone claiming Eddie Murphy stole "Boomerang" from him. The reason I remember this is because Eddie's mocking delivery of "THAT'S MINE!!!! THAT....IS MIIIINE!" when talking about it has lived in my head ever since. Its like how I remember when Power Rangers first hit some ex-CIA spook made the news for claiming he came up with the idea first.
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Aug 16, 2022 16:17
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muscles like this! posted:The problem non-Disney streaming services have run into is that sometimes they'll have already licensed their back catalog out. Like how despite it being one of Paramount's biggest shows Paramount Plus does not have the mainline Yellowstone series. Even Disney had this issue (and continues to outside the US), but they've been slowly getting stuff back.
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Aug 16, 2022 16:44
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site posted:i would have expected the pr rehab to be much closer to release in case, uhh... anything else happens between now and then They're preparing for a new reality show, Crime Time with Ezra Miller.
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Aug 16, 2022 19:06
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Scaramouche posted:They're preparing for a new reality show, Crime Time with Ezra Miller. They're the real life Ronnie Dobbs.
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