{"id":12851356,"date":"2025-12-13T14:25:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T19:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/?p=12851356"},"modified":"2025-12-13T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T19:25:24","slug":"the-streaming-wars-and-affordability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/2025\/12\/13\/the-streaming-wars-and-affordability\/","title":{"rendered":"The Streaming Wars and Affordability"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blog-header\">\n<div class=\"tablet-flex-box\">\n<h2 class=\"single-title tablet-inline-block tablet-flex-1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/the-streaming-wars-and-affordability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Streaming Wars and Affordability<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-data single\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"autor-data-details\">\n<p class=\"author-title\">Courtesy of Scott Galloway, No Mercy\/No Malice, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@profgalloway\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@profgalloway<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Audio Recording by George Hahn<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"webby-single audio-link\">\n<li class=\"audio\"><audio controls=\"controls\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/audio><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"blog-content\">\n<p>Netflix\u2019s $83 billion deal to buy most of Warner Bros. would unite\u00a0<i>Stranger Things<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>KPop Demon Hunters<\/i>\u00a0with\u00a0<i>Game of Thrones<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>The White Lotus,\u00a0<\/i>creating a streaming powerhouse. With Netflix\u2019s Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters at the helm, the combined company would also be led by the smartest team in the entertainment industry. I know Ted and, like most who meet him, admire him.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know David Ellison, and I find kids of billionaires trying to reshape the culture with a 12-figure jackhammer a bit \u2026 gross. But the Paramount boss \u2014 who\u2019s trying to thwart Netflix with a hostile $108 billion bid for Warner Bros. \u2014 is right: A Netflix takeover would likely be bad news for consumers at a time when many are facing an affordability crunch. The fight over the century-old studio is also a great example of the cronyism and head-up-your-ass economics of the Trump administration that adds fuel to the crisis.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-216376 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers-520x293.png 520w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-numbers-1200x675.png 1200w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Anticompetitive<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/08\/paramount-skydance-hostile-bid-wbd-netflix.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ellison argued<\/a>\u00a0on CNBC that allowing two of the biggest streaming services to join forces is \u201canticompetitive.\u201d As the son of Larry Ellison,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/billionaires\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the world\u2019s third-richest person<\/a>, Paramount\u2019s CEO has close ties to Donald Trump and access to a seemingly bottomless pool of capital. It\u2019s obnoxious listening to a guy raised in a gravity-free financial environment warning others about the dangers of market distortion. After giving that interview, did he go into the kitchen of the restaurant and lecture the line cooks on the dignity of minimum wage? I digress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Socialism<\/b><\/p>\n<p>After giving the elder Ellison a significant role in his plan to transfer TikTok\u2019s U.S. operations to a group of American investors, Trump is<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/08\/business\/media\/trump-netflix-paramount-deal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0pledging to get involved<\/a>\u00a0in the regulatory fate of a Warner Bros. takeover. This is straight-up socialism \u2014 the state controlling the means of production.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Everyone knows we\u2019re sliding into a stew of autocracy\/kleptocracy, so Sarandos also wooed Trump in the lead-up to announcing his agreement on Dec. 5,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/biz\/news\/netflix-ted-sarandos-white-house-meeting-trump-warner-bros-deal-1236602831\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">securing a secret White House meeting<\/a>\u00a0with the president. But before unveiling his rival offer two days later, Ellison reminded his adversary who has the political edge. The Silicon Valley scion\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/08\/business\/media\/trump-netflix-paramount-deal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was spotted beside<\/a>\u00a0Trump at a ceremony in D.C. Who the president, or podcasters, believe is the rightful owner shouldn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s simple: It should be whoever shows up with the biggest check and passes regulatory reviews.<\/p>\n<p><b>Dominant Position<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Concentration of power in streaming might corrupt the market, similar to the corruption the country endures when a few people can reshape media, tech and Washington. Anyway, back to streaming. With more than 300 million subscribers, Netflix already has a leading position. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney control over\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/netflix-warner-deal-drive-streaming-140428535.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">60% of the market<\/a>. Acquiring Warner Bros. would give it even more power, with one of the largest libraries of premium scripted content and some of the most valuable entertainment franchises. Combining HBO \u2014 the gold standard of television \u2014 with Netflix \u2014 the streaming superstore \u2014 is like fusing LVMH and Walmart.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Less Choice, Higher Price<\/b><\/p>\n<p>If Netflix captures HBO Max, the streaming war (ad-free, original content) is over. The upshot, despite Netflix\u2019s assurances that the combo will create greater value for consumers, is fewer choices. At some point, as concentration intensifies, all the companies\u2019 stocks will fall, as there are fewer people who can afford to buy their stuff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This trend is well underway, with the top 10% already accounting for 50% of consumer spending, making the economy more fragile. One-tenth of the population can crash the train. A Paramount deal also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/09\/opinion\/netflix-paramount-warner-bros.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raises competition concerns<\/a>, given the two companies have rival film studios with theatrical releases and overlapping streaming services. But there\u2019s a reason Paramount would probably face an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2025\/12\/09\/would-paramount-warner-deal-get-antitrust-approval-netflix-streaming-market-share\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">easier regulatory path<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s not just the support it would receive from Trump. It boils down to market share.<\/p>\n<p>Streaming prices are climbing, along with the cost of groceries, gas, and housing, as the industry consolidates. The average subscription price for the top 10 U.S. platforms has risen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-10-30\/subscription-streaming-prices-up-12-in-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">12% this year<\/a>, far outpacing inflation, following double-digit increases since 2022. U.S. households spend an average of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-11-21\/why-do-streaming-prices-keep-rising-disney-netflix-paramount-what-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$70 a month<\/a>\u00a0on streaming services, a significant sum for people whose grocery bills have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/09\/19\/nx-s1-5539547\/grocery-prices-tariffs-food-inflation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">climbed 30%<\/a>\u00a0over the past five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Chicken vs. Beef<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The companies say they have to raise prices to pay for the premium content they provide. But what the increases really signal is a transfer of capital from consumers and labor to shareholders. Adding the studio and streaming assets of Warner Bros. would give Netflix even more leverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-216377 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price-520x293.png 520w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Chart-bar-streaming-price-1200x675.png 1200w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If Netflix wins, the most critical question will be whether it\u2019s competing with premium streaming platforms or virtually all digital video content vying for attention. Netflix isn\u2019t nearly as dominant if you factor in Alphabet\u2019s YouTube and ByteDance\u2019s TikTok, as Kara Swisher, my\u00a0<i>Pivot<\/i>\u00a0co-host, points out. But regulators should adopt the narrower market definition. Otherwise it\u2019s akin to chicken producers defending their control of the market by suggesting their competition extends to cattle ranchers and pistachio farmers.<\/p>\n<p>Also, consolidation won\u2019t stop with Netflix or Paramount and Warner Bros. The deal will only put more pressure on rivals, including Comcast, to follow with their own transactions to scale their streaming platforms.<\/p>\n<p><b>From Indignation to Ideas<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Streaming subscriptions are just one part of a wider debate. Everyone from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-economy-campaign-speech-pennsylvania-rcna248291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0to New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is talking about affordability. However, the country is long on indignation and short on ideas or programs to actually bring prices down. The president has insisted that tariffs will boost the economy, when in fact they\u2019re\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/f4bd2952-7ce5-4943-9a23-3a297c5c78e3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pushing prices higher<\/a>\u00a0and fueling concerns over the cost of living. Trump, who once vowed to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=r1qXSlNX9X4&amp;t=39s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">make America affordable again<\/a>,\u201d now calls concerns about increasing prices a \u201choax\u201d perpetrated by the Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Americans know this is bullshit. The use of buy-now, pay-later services is rising to record levels\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.morningstar.com\/news\/marketwatch\/20251204206\/we-fear-people-will-end-up-in-financial-trouble-americans-will-spend-a-record-20-billion-via-buy-now-pay-later-during-the-holidays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this holiday season<\/a>. Yet they\u2019re also not buying the message from Democrats,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/12\/05\/democrats-trump-affordability-schumer-jeffries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">who highlight the need to curb health, housing, food, and energy costs<\/a>\u00a0but resort to stoking outrage and throwing money at people vs. implementing concrete structural change. Here are four ideas that aren\u2019t sexy (i.e., they will take work):<\/p>\n<p><b>Build, Baby, Build<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Housing should be at the top of the agenda, as it\u2019s the primary culprit driving the lack of affordability.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jchs.harvard.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/files\/Harvard_JCHS_The_State_of_the_Nations_Housing_2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Half of renter households<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. are cost-burdened, meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on shelter. Higher expenses curb labor mobility and productivity, deter families from seeking medical care, contribute to anxiety and depression, and fuel homelessness. While rent control is tempting, it suppresses development longer term, only adding to the problem. Higher costs for labor, building materials, and regulatory compliance exacerbate the housing shortfall.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-216378 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4-520x293.png 520w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/line-chart-4-1200x675.png 1200w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We should have tax credits to unleash private development to build 8 million to 10 million homes in the next decade. Yimby laws (yes in my backyard) and cost-effective building are also part of the solution.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/project-2028-housing\/\">Manufactured homes<\/a>, built in factories and finished on site, are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jchs.harvard.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/research\/files\/harvard_jchs_pew_report_1_updated_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">35% to 73% cheaper<\/a>\u00a0than homes built entirely on location.<\/p>\n<p><b>Nationalize Medicine<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. healthcare system is broken \u2014 for the bottom 90%.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/health-costs\/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Many Americans<\/a>\u00a0are one medical expense away from sliding into debt. More than 30 million citizens, especially Black and Hispanic adults, borrowed money to pay for healthcare last year, accumulating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/657041\/americans-borrow-estimated-billion-medical-bills-2024.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$74 billion in medical debt<\/a>. Enough.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take Medicare and lower eligibility by two years every year for the next decade. That would bring the age of eligibility to 45 in 10 years. What is that called?\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2025\/apr\/29\/america-universal-healthcare-bernie-sanders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nationalized medicine<\/a>. We can help younger people in other ways. They aren\u2019t the ones accounting for the vast majority of surging health costs.<\/p>\n<p><b>Impose Tuition Caps<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We also need tuition caps based on income.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profgalloway.com\/rot\/\">As a freshman at UCLA<\/a>, I benefited from an annual tuition of just $1,350 (and an admissions rate of 74%). A degree from a prestigious school opens doors and potentially quadruples the income a person can expect to make, but the ROI has declined as costs have ballooned.<\/p>\n<p>If your family is middle-class, the tuition should reflect that. Colby last year\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.colby.edu\/story\/colby-expands-fair-shot-fund-to-help-middle-income-families\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced a program<\/a>\u00a0to cap the cost of tuition, room, and board at $10,000 a year for families who earn up to $100,000, and $15,000 for those with incomes ranging from $100,000 to $150,000. That compares with a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/collegenavigator\/?q=colby&amp;s=all&amp;id=161086#netprc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">net price<\/a>\u00a0of as much as $53,000 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If universities with endowments greater than $1 billion aren\u2019t increasing freshman enrollment faster than the population is growing, they should lose their tax-free status. They\u2019ve decided they\u2019re Birkin bags, not public servants.<\/p>\n<p><b>Trust-Busting<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Concentration of power harms consumers and workers, with the benefits flowing to shareholders. It\u2019s up to regulators to break up or block harmful oligopolies that stifle competition. The nation\u2019s regulators are supposed to enforce antitrust law based on guidelines about market share and other standards, but giving the president the ability to \u201cengage in post hoc manipulation\u201d undermines the rule of law, as Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust scholar,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-warner-bros.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the<i>\u00a0New York Times<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>More Oxygen\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The pursuit of Warner Bros. is more than just a transaction. It\u2019s a microcosm of a wider emergency. We can\u2019t complain about surging costs while ignoring the factors behind them. We need to have an adult conversation, saying no to harmful deals and yes to policies that spur competition and rein in health, housing, and education costs.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s telling that the loudest objection to this nascent monopoly comes from a Hollywood mogul who\u2019s never lived outside one. But we should listen to him. Consolidation is a tax on the young and the poor, levied to protect the old and the rich. Affordability begins with a simple idea: more firms, more competition, more oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>Life is so rich,<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/profgalloway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/nmnm_images\/Scott-Signature-NMNM.png\" width=\"87\" height=\"26\" \/><\/p>\n<p>P.S. This week I spoke with Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, about the AI dilemma. Listen here on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-ai-dilemma-with-tristan-harris\/id1498802610?i=1000740817066\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/5n4yhN4Yxmb7cCrnwDaOEh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, or watch on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MLvxRHlsMz0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav class=\"post-navigation\">\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Streaming Wars and Affordability Courtesy of Scott Galloway, No Mercy\/No Malice, @profgalloway Audio Recording by George Hahn Netflix\u2019s $83 billion deal to buy most of Warner Bros. would unite\u00a0Stranger Things\u00a0and\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters\u00a0with\u00a0Game of Thrones\u00a0and\u00a0The White Lotus,\u00a0creating a streaming powerhouse. With Netflix\u2019s Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters at the helm, the combined company would also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":12851357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,26922,21,1,12,26295],"tags":[26930,26929,26302],"class_list":{"0":"post-12851356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-appears-on-main-page","8":"category-market-news","9":"category-available","10":"category-uncategorized","11":"category-phils-favorites","12":"category-technology","13":"tag-galloway","14":"tag-scott-galloway","15":"tag-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12851356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12851356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12851356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12851358,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12851356\/revisions\/12851358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12851357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12851356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12851356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philstockworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12851356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}