The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery thinks that television is a terrible experience
The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, is a businessman, above all. This sometimes makes it extremely unpopular. According to his decision to cancel films like “Batgirl” for a tax drafting to avoid TCM at some point, he often appears to be cold, calculating and frankly disconnected. That said, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And although the Zaslav is not a fairly broken clock, he is absolutely right in his assessment of streaming television.
Speaking during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference, Zaslav spoke of a range of subjects, in particular why HBO Max has not yet repressed the sharing of passwords and other elements of the media industry as it currently exists. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the executive was not exactly charitable in its assessment of the way in which most of us experience television these days. Here is what he had to say about this:
“The market is really challenged with too many players on the market.
Zaslav has a point. The streaming landscape is flooded with options, including Netflix, Disney +, Video Prime, Peacock, Paramount + and Yes, HBO Max, among others. This is not to say anything more niche services, such as Shudder or Mubi. Do you want to watch “Stranger Things?” You absolutely have to subscribe to Netflix. And the “dryer”? Get Apple TV +. The overwhelming sea of choice spread over too much services is a huge problem that the industry has not yet resolved.
Basically, it is difficult to challenge Zaslav’s point here. TV streaming, as it currently exists, is far from an ideal experience.
Bad or not, streaming will become more expensive
Does this mean that we want to return to cable television, with endless advertisements and a sea of chains that do not have much to offer? Not necessarily, but the era of streaming is not the golden sea change, it seemed that it could be.
Frankly, it is not difficult to see why so many people use hacking these days. I have never been one to tolerate hacking, but streaming, as it exists, is a prohibitive cost in a way that this was not the case when Netflix arrived on the stage for the first time. The subscription to each major market on the market would cost much more than $ 100 per month. It is certainly not cheaper than cable, which was the promise of streaming in the first place.
Unfortunately, it will only get worse. Netflix continues to increase its prices, and a large part of the industry takes the plunge. Streaming will only become more expensive over time, even if it is not a particularly good experience. This is where Zaslav started to look more like his old CEO. Speaking further, he explained that, as he sees, HBO Max is currently undervalued and Warner Bros. Discovery intends to increase this cost in the future:
“The fact that it is quality – and this is true in our company, our film, television production and our quality of streaming – we think that it gives us a chance to increase the price. We think we are very underestimated. We are going to take our time.”
Things will probably get worse before improving. On the HBO Max front, the discovery of Warner Bros. could end up being absorbed by Paramount. Does this mean that Paramount + and HBO Max could become a single service? Could it be a good thing? Or would it just be an even larger, more disorderly and more expensive monster? It certainly seems that consolidation will occur, Disney preparing to eliminate Hulu soon. Streaming beams are becoming more and more common.
Things change, for sure. Will this improve streaming television? This remains to be seen. If nothing else, Zaslav, one of the men at the top of the food chain in Hollywood, understands that the experience, as it exists, is not great.
