According to US media, Netflix has reached an agreement to buy Warner Bros' film and streaming services. Discovery, priced at $82.7 billion, marks one of Hollywood's most shocking deals in recent years.
The "big guy" streaming has overcome two strong competitors, Comcast and Paramount - Skydance, after a long bidding race to take ownership of Warner Bros. - a film studio that owns a series of famous brands such as Harry Potter, Game of thrones and HBO Max platform.
If completed, this deal will create a new entertainment force, but it still has to wait for approval from the competition management agency.
Meanwhile, many organizations in the film industry, including the American Screenwriters Association, have expressed concerns that the deal could have a negative impact on workers as well as the rights of the audience.
Sharing in American media, screenwriter Mike Schur, co-creator of the series "Parks and Recreation" (20092015) commented that any major media merger deal would harm creativity, from screenwriter, actor to director. As the number of corporations shrinks, job opportunities also decrease, making creative space more limited.
Similarly, Lindsay Dougherty - leader of the Los Angeles area of the Teamsters Union, representing drivers, mechanics, casting specialists and many other behind-the-scenes forces - called this a "warning bell". She emphasized that Netflix's expansion of power could lead to the risk of increasing service prices and negatively impact the sustainability of the entire entertainment industry.
The Screen Actors Association - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), representing tens of thousands of actors, said it will continue to monitor the developments of the deal, but still emphasize the goal of protecting workers' livelihoods, encouraging creativity and maintaining the audience's right to choose.
Any deal that is considered profitable needs to create more job opportunities, expand production scale and at the same time ensure the rights of artists, emphasized the SAG-AFTRA representative.
