Who will be in the first big streaming/subscription merger?

[Irrotational]

Could Apple buy Netlifx and merge in into their TV offerings? Could MS buy it and merge it with gamepass? (feels unlikely).

Google now has play pass, video store, a music subscription and storage subscription (plus youtube)...how does it, or should it, package these services up?

Amazon prime feels like the bundle "leader" for some time now, with free shipping on the store, bundled video (maybe music) and even a twitch subscription.

Will google offer a google "prime" or Apple offer "Apple prime".

Quite curious what people think...

 

[LewieP]

Disney don't 100% own Hulu right? They might buy the portion of it that they don't yet own.

 

[Fliesen]

Apple needs to bundle their services, because AppleTV+ by itself is simply not strong enough of an offering.

Apple Music is - next to Spotify - the strongest Music Streaming provider; they really need to capitalize on that service's strength and offer Music + TV + Gaming bundles.

I doubt they'd buy / merge with any service, really.

 

[ClivePwned]

i don't see a lot mergers but i see some studios looking at the costs and whether they'd be better off licensing their content to other streamers.

I'd guess CBS all access first since they haven't bothered with fully rolling out internationally. Then HBO Max. I can see warner giving up. not disney, amazon, netflix or Apple

 

[MarioW]

Apple is for sure heading towards an Apple Music + AppleTV+ + Apple Arcade bundle subscription.

Exactly how they bolster their AppleTV+ offering I don't know though. They have the cash to do just about anything though.

 

[shnurgleton]

Disney will buy Netflix, calling it now

 

[Betty]

Microsoft are going to buy a big publisher in the future for Game Pass, something on the level of EA, Ubisoft, Capcom etc

 

[Deleted member 2802]

i don't see a lot mergers but i see some studios looking at the costs and whether they'd be better off licensing their content to other streamers.

I'd guess CBS all access first since they haven't bothered with fully rolling out internationally. Then HBO Max. I can see warner giving up. not disney, amazon, netflix or Apple

Click to shrink...

This is my thought. Double up on content or limited exclusivity.
Ahhh just like gaming

 

[Fliesen]

Apple is for sure heading towards an Apple Music + AppleTV+ + Apple Arcade bundle subscription.

Exactly how they bolster their AppleTV+ offering I don't know though. They have the cash to do just about anything though.

Click to shrink...

Netflix is too much of their own "brand" to be merged into Apple imho.
Disney owns Hulu and Disney content.
Amazon owns Amazon Prime (duh.)

I don't really see any other services that have a meaningful portfolio or subscriber numbers to entice Apple into merging them into their offerings rather than just building up their own content generation machine.

So i'd guess we'll see Apple throwing money at the problem, producing exclusives and possibly making some aggressive content deals.

 

[Irrotational]

Great - some interesting replies! Thanks.

General thoughts so far seem to be:-

1. Apple likely to merge their services into an "Apple prime" subscription (although they seem to have just "left" itunes and talked about apple video, apple music and apple arcade).

2. Disney might buy netflix - because it's a company that it doesn't own yet.

3. "smaller" services like CBS and others might licence themselves into a bigger "machine" e.g. licencing themselves into Disney, or Netflix or Apple?

Any views on what Google might do? It feels likely that they merge video/music/play-pass like Apple might...but do they buy more content from someone?

 

[Shatty McKracken]

Microsoft are going to buy a big publisher in the future for Game Pass, something on the level of EA, Ubisoft, Capcom etc

Click to shrink...

Atheist here.

But I'll pray for this since the gaming side meltdowns would be legendary.

I'm platform agnostic and always ended up owning all the consoles at some point in the generation so it would have no effect on me.

 

[FusionNY]

Microsoft are going to buy a big publisher in the future for Game Pass, something on the level of EA, Ubisoft, Capcom etc

Click to shrink...

It's never gonna happen but the only big pub that makes sense for Microsoft is Sega. It would make them the premier publisher of PC games while finally giving them some serious Japanese support + Sonic. That said it would lead to so many layoffs that I could never see this happening.

 

[Fisty]

Could Apple buy Netlifx and merge in into their TV offerings? Could MS buy it and merge it with gamepass? (feels unlikely).

Click to shrink...

"Feels unlikely" isnt how I would describe that scenario

 

[Chaos Legion]

ViacomCBS buying Starz from Lionsgate to merge with Showtime/CBS All Access.

Apple eventually offering a bundled service of TV+, News, Music and Arcade.

 

[Irrotational]

"Feels unlikely" isnt how I would describe that scenario

Click to shrink...

yeah - it felt pretty random as I wrote it!

 

[Irrotational]

Not a merger but game pass ultimate now includes Spotify premium for 6 months...

Seems a bit of a random collaboration, or do MS have a link to Spotify?