Paramount Plus Warner Bros Equals LAYOFFS and COST-CUTTING!

0:00Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein, cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Hey guys, welcome back to clownfish TV. This is Neon. I am here with Geeky Sparkles. And we're going to talk about the fallout from the Paramount Warner Brothers merger. We've got David Ellison out there saying that he's going to reinvent the business and that means a lot of people are going to get laid off. Well, yeah, they're going to, they're already saying they're going to get rid of six billion in cuts and stuff like that. So we're going to talk about this and also right now would be a damn good time if you're a Warner Brothers employee to keep your head down. If you want to keep your job, if you don't want to keep your job, you know, just keep shooting off at the mouth. But if you want to keep your job, you probably want to shut up.

1:02Yeah, I'm going to get you John Oliver. You probably just want to shut up. But let's talk about this before you get into the day further. Please subscribe for more pop culture news, views and rants guys get who if you do. Geeky Sparkles ginger rage and animal pins are still available on Kickstarter. You can check that out. I got a few days to go on that and also if you want to pick up a copy of the Crimson Ren re offer, we're going to leave that open for a little bit yet. Check that out on Kickstarter as well. Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much for the support. So this is, this is kind of a rundown. We'll go out to the article. It's coming from discussing film. Paramount has has revealed new details about their merger with Warner Brothers HBO Max and Paramount Plus will be combined into one service. Shocker. Yeah, I mean, we figured. Param Max, I don't know what you call it. 15 films per studio with a 45 day theatrical window for each film. That's actually pretty good already. I thought they already said that it was going to be a 45 day window. I think that's pretty much the standard now. That's a standard, but they're talking 15 films per studio.

2:03So you're talking HBO and Param or Warner Paramount. So 30, but I talked about this other day too. And I'm like, here's the thing that they're trying to save studios and they're trying to say they're going to put these movies out. The problem is you have 30 films and only a fraction of those are going to probably make a lot of money. And although that fraction and what it's left, some might break even and make a little bit of money. But a lot of them are going to lose money too. So I'm like, you're promising 30 films per year to shut up theaters and stuff are going to play, but 30 films is a lot. That's a lot. You know. And yeah, they're not all going to be winners. I think we're getting to the place where it's over production. I think actually having fewer but are good and they put the time and effort into them is a better way to go. Because then you make sure more profitable, but they don't want to hear that. The theaters are afraid. Yeah, it's got weird though, because we've seen even in theaters around here that they're taking the hits or some of the indie movies actually. And they're putting them in multiple on multiple screens because there's not enough new stuff. So like I or long when it came out, they had on like two or three screens as fresh.

3:06Yeah, and they got they got half the money. The theaters got to keep half the money on that one and everything else. I mean, I think their best bet is to find more good indie films that people are willing to work with them directly instead of going for the studios. And they get more of a cut and work with them directly and put those out instead of more studio slop. Yeah, let's just hope that they don't bring back the 3D movies because that was a thing for a while. I remember every movie was 3D. Today still do that. I don't even know. I don't go to the 3D's because it makes my head hurt. I can't remember the last 3 movies. The first one I saw was Tron Legacy. And that was bizarre, like walking out of it because half the movie, like the graphics are dark, like dark with the LED lights. And then walking out of that theater, I was like running in the stuff. Yeah, it was to be a wild walk right again. It was like dizzy and stuff. Yeah. But I came out of theater. I couldn't walk right for an hour. I'm like, what are you doing? What theater was this? And then we didn't go to the 3D for Tron Aries because we were the only ones in the theater. So they could have been a lot more fun. But you know, they have been more fun.

4:07I don't know. Well, yeah. I think it would have been more fun than watching that movie. Six billion costs. Okay. This is it, guys. If you honestly thought that everything was going to stay the same when these two companies merge, you are sorely mistaken. But it wasn't going to stay the same if Netflix got it either. No, Netflix just would have lied. It was said, yeah, it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. As soon as the ink dried, they would shed a bunch of stuff down. Six billion and cost-cutting, including consolidating on tech infrastructure, real estate, corporate overhead and more. So how many of the Warner Brothers employees, how many Warner Brothers divisions are corporate overhead and DC Comics? I was going to say in redundancy. Redundancies. Yes. And there are a lot. When you merge two companies like this, they basically do the same thing. Yeah. You have a lot of redundancy. They're talking about like rolling Pluto TV and also there's Paramount Plus and there's Pluto TV, which is their free version, which I love Pluto TV.

5:08But there's really no reason to have like 50 different streaming services, right? Yeah. But they put Pluto TV. Well, they're going to roll Pluto TV and two. Yeah, they're talking. Because then you've got to pay for it. So there's not going to be free anyway. It's all paid. Well, no. What the price is, they'll probably have like the free version. Then if you want the paywall content, you have to pay for it. Or I'll just all go behind the paywall because they got to pay for this thing. I don't know. Who knows? No plans to sell off spin off any cable assets, flexibility to put sports like UFC on any cable network. Oh, do it on CNN. Put the UFC on CNN. On CNN. On CNN. Brian Stelter gets his ass kicked on on TV. Oh, that'd be hilarious. We'll continue the license movies and TV shows to other studios and platforms. So yeah, even though they've got their own thing, they're still getting the license of that. We'll be AI. We'll be a tool for artists, but never replacement for storytellers. Well, that's what it should be. It should be a tool for not a, not a, not a replacement.

6:10Yeah, summary. This is 100% true. Mass layoffs. Huge debt. More brothers getting sold again after three to four years. I don't think this time it's going to. It's going to happen. I think that they're just going to. They wouldn't sell Warner Brothers off. They're going to combine everything together. If they sell anything off, they'd sell the entire, whatever this new studio is going to be. So. And because the company is they've sold Warner Brothers 2 before. Didn't know what the hell. Like they weren't studios now. I think he's really a studio. He's a tech company. But so is Netflix. Right. So. Yes, start out as. Yeah. Right. So it's come from the Hollywood reporter David Elson unveils sweeping vision for Warner Brothers. About reinventing the business. You're all getting laid off HBO Max and Paramount Plus will be merged when the deal closes. The mogul told Wall Street early Monday morning. David Elson wants to forge a modern media and entertainment empire Warner Brothers will become at centerpiece to see a Paramount on Monday spoke for the first time about the 110 billion dollar mega deal, which we'll see the smaller company backed by tens of billions from his father.

7:12Intense of billions in debt from a consortium of lenders swall the larger one. The result is going to be a behemoth. Yeah, basically at this point. Once they merge, it's basically going to be Disney versus Paramount. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day on the couch in the crowd or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in with a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles. You can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stuck the fridge for tip off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at Athletic Brewing.com near beer fit for all times. Well, and Netflix. Yeah, Netflix, but like we're only going to have the big three networks. But ironically though, YouTube's still beating them all as far as viewership. Yeah, but I'm talking like I'm talking IP ownership is basically. Oh, ownership, yeah. It's going to be Disney with Fox and Marvel and all that stuff.

8:13Then you've got Paramount Warner Brothers and that stuff and then whatever Netflix makes itself. Yeah, that's true. Oh, that's true for IP. Yeah. Because I'm thinking like who who is left outside of that. Those were the big studios. Paramount. There's a lot of the other things that had like IP kind of got gobbled up by those already by Paramount stuff already. MGM with Amazon. Well, yeah, that's true. But that doesn't know a lot. Is there a lot of that? No, that's not compared to Warner Brothers. I mean, Warner Brothers Paramount, Disney, Fox, MGM, they were the biggest players and they're all gobbled up by tech companies now. I mean, that's just that's the way it is. Do you think the contract negotiations are going to go so well for the union this time? I don't think they're going to. I don't know, but they're, yeah, I did a video on that yesterday. They said, yeah, jump off TV studios, two major streaming services and the stable of TV channels that will include CBS TNT, CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon, HGTV. It will be a major sports player. We'll combine the two news giants and CNN and CBS.

9:15LSNAT1, the deal as being about the future of the entertainment business by uniting our iconic studios complimentary streaming platforms with a global footprint. Our cable and linear networks and our world class IP, we have the opportunity to help shape the future and build a next generation media and entertainment company. This has been our goal since day one, so we're going to license this shit out. But you're right, it's only one that's even remotely capable of going up against Disney as far as how many franchises they own and stuff that are big. Yeah, because while we have Universal, but they're not, Universal and MGM aren't even close. Yeah, but they're not close, you know what I'm saying? No. And they're propped up by, you know, Amazon's got MGM now and then Comcast has Universal. They're both tech, yeah. So it's, yeah. I mean, it's basically the two big ones, I think, are going to be this company in Disney, slash Fox, slash Marvel, whatever, and then, you know, the outliers, but it's crazy.

10:16It's not about consolidation. It's about reinventing the business, translation, you're all getting fired. We want to expand our reach and enhance our ability to create the world's most compelling stories and experiences and we're incredibly excited about this transaction. It will accelerate that ambition. Hollywood has been wary of the deal out of concerns for jobs and production. Yeah. That, yeah. But now when it's you guys, they're not just wary about that. They worry about jobs and production when it was Netflix. Now with you, they're super far upset because they're super far left and they're super far afraid that you're going to go super far to the right. All he's saying is we're not going to, we're not going to end theatrical word. We're not going to pull the plug on HBO. Well, no, they make money. But I think if you don't make money, you're, you're screwed. You're probably $6 billion in cuts. So here's, here's what I think is, is going to potentially happen and the, the left did it to themselves. They had pretty much complete uncontested control of the media, all media for 10 to 15 years,

11:20far left. And the pendulum is going to swing and it's going to be at least, at least 15 to 20 years until they get control of anything again. I think it's, it's, you know, you can argue. It's not time for people to people to forget. Right. And I think that there was so much damage done, so much trust eroded in that, that span of time. And the zeitgeist has changed that I think is going to be a very long time before they get a hold of it again. And really, a lot of these people are going to look at the situation and be like, that was the, we made the worst financial decisions we've ever made in our entire history. And these companies blew themselves up. And a lot of ways trying to chase, you know, the activism and the wokeness and the whatever. And, and here they are. And now they have to sell themselves off. So good luck with that. Yeah. So if you don't want to work for it. You can't only add much to that. Well, I'm just saying, like, if you don't want to work for right wingers, well, good luck with that. Because they own, they're going like three quarters of Hollywood.

12:21And yeah, you can argue Disney, but even Disney is starting to walk back to center. Mm-hmm. A lot of places are walking back to center. And that's what they're so mad about. But they, they want profit, they're pivoting their profitability. Yes. Because you can, because when you're in the center, most people are in the center either right, left or center. And that's the majority of people. You have some people that are extremists, but the majority of everyone, I think globally, it seems to be like, you know, center. And if you, if you lead into that and you go back to center and you, but it'll appeal to people that are right, a center and left to center as well, that's, you can, you can grab the market, you know, from that. Because you have your outliers, but they're, they're small. You know, I mean, there's, there's a lot of far leftists, but not anywhere near as many as there are people in the middle. So you go back to where you're going to make money. It's just common sense. Well, here, here's where it's going to be really interesting, because Warner Brothers is like hot potato. Every time it gets sold, it gets sold with more and more debt. Mm-hmm. And Paramount had a ton of debt, which is why they got sold.

13:21This is why I understand. Nobody is looking at the financials of Hollywood. They're like, oh, we had a really big opening weekend for this one movie. I'm like, yeah, you look at the health of the company. And it's basically everybody's max out their credit cards and they have them for years. Right? And a lot of it was streaming. They chase streaming and they blew themselves up. They said they're going to be financial impacts. Those remain a source of indigestion for the town. Yeah, they know they're not going to get what they're asking for next, next time around. The company is going to have 79 billion dollars of debt. Paramount, Chief Strategy Officer Andy Gordon told Analysts on the call. And it's targeting a $6 billion cost savings and a 3X leverage within three years of closing. They're going to be brutal. They are going to cut everything that does not make money. And then they're going to double down things that are going to perform. Yeah. And you guys aren't going to like it because they're going to go back to putting things where they were when people would buy them. Are you getting a season three of Starfleet Academy? No. I can't know. I can almost guarantee you're not getting a season three of Starfleet Academy.

14:23I think they may actually wind up shutting down DC Comics as a comic publisher and outsource it. Well, they were going to outsource other things they said. Yeah. It saves money, right? That means a lot of jobs lost, though they took the effort to say that the majority of the savings will not come from labor. We have no intention to pull back on production. But you're going to run into redundancies no matter what you do. Yeah. Even when you combine a two big companies, you don't need two departments of each company. You know, you can take people and keep something from both. You know, the best of the best from either one will get this keep their jobs probably. Or depending on maybe the less expensive people, depending on where they want to go with it. But they're going to be getting some people will get this day and that a bunch of people will have to get gone. That's just the way it works. Blue sky is taking it very well. Oh, yes, of course they are. Me to the monkeys paw. I wish Star Trek wasn't on Paramount. It's HBO Max. And this guy says hard to see this as anything other than stilter sucking up to his future bosses.

15:27Let's check in on Brian stilter. What's he doing? Brian stilter writes CBS news has not been captured. Oh, that's interesting. I suspect liberals who claim CBS has gone mega aren't really watching the network. Yeah, I for one welcome our new insect overlords. Because he knows he knows he's he's going to be on the chopping block. All these guys. I don't think everything's got magic. They're trying to go back to center is what they're trying to do. That's what we keep trying to tell people because you know, I think we can serve ourselves. You know, pretty moderate Democrats, you know, most of our adult lives. And and I'm looking at the situation now. I'm like, yeah, the center looks far right to people who are on the far left. Mm hmm. Because you're so far left. I mean, far left is completely unrecognizable. Well, that's a problem. Now a lot of people are turning because they've been and they're turning even more because they're like, this is just getting to this is just getting to an end. You know, behavior they're seeing like over things like not standing when you say America first.

16:30Or, you know, the behavior about some of the stuff that they're doing. People are like over it. And there are more people are loudly saying we're over it. Yeah. Was this CNN put a paywall? Oh, yeah, they put a paywall up on their their website. Now. A lot of them were doing that because they have to freaking out. They're all freaking out. So here's a thing. I'll I'll mention it in this video. It's not really worth a whole another video. But all these news sites. They're going to be completely obsolete because more and more. It's AI is writing its own articles. It's not like rock and write its own articles. And I was surprised. I didn't realize it was doing that. But it is. It's basically just taking all the tweets and all the information that's out there. And generating an article. And what are these websites doing? Like they're just going out to read it and being like, it's the world's biggest pickle or whatever the fucking. It's trending on Reddit. And here's an article about it. That's not really journalism. It's not really hard hitting journalism. It's not something to do. It was on X. It was about airlines are. And this was the New York Post.

17:30I think it was airlines are destroying the, you know, seats or something like that. And they they had a section in the middle of the seat. And they were trying to convince people that this was the, what they call the cheek splitter 3000 here was a thing they put on the seat to tell people they're working on the seats that don't sit in this chair. And they tried to make it out like that's what the airlines were going to do. And the reason they did that article was it was trending on Reddit. So it's like they're not even going now that you know, I'm saying like all day. They say, Oh, you're a grifter. You're, you know, beta all that going out to you were out to the marriage. The marriage suits all Reddit drama. And like all kinds of bullshit that's because they're desperate. Yeah, they're masturbators over there. They're masturbators. That should be that should be an award for, for the media. The master beta award. But everybody's like, yeah, it's, it's not clickbait. If it comes from a reputable, a reputable outlet. But the reputable outlets aren't reputable outlets anymore either. Yeah. CNN is not in a good mood tonight. They said, we are doomed.

18:30One stat. Okay. This is Oliver Darcy. From status news. We are doomed. One staffer texted me. The panic at CNN right now is off the charts. Yeah. So it's, it's, they all know a lot of people are getting fired. Right. It's just. Ironically, I have noticed lately. CNN keeps trying to take it back to center. And they're actually putting things on CNN that you would like be normal. Like, oh, they actually put that on CNN because you wouldn't think they would because it isn't, you know, just negativity towards Trump. And, and they're putting some stuff up there that was like, wow, that's a shocker. And it's like, no, they're trying desperately to save themselves. Spring is here. And the shopping list is long. Time to make a blows run. Buy three bags, get three free. If stay green, one cubic foot garden soy. Plus, right now, members can earn four times the points on an eligible person. Start spring off strong with these deals and more. Our best lineup is here at Loves. Balance is 325, while supplies last. Soil offer excludes a last-gen Hawaii. LoLT program subject to terms and conditions. See Loves.com slash terms for details.

19:30Subject to change. Point booster subject to exclusions and more terms apply. Once I'm only offered. This is bad. Handing CNN, the Barry Weiss and David Ellison is very, very bad. Yeah. You're supposed to keep handing people to tell you to give you the flavor or shit you want. Again, how do we get here? Nobody watched your shit. The value of these networks declined. Misfire after misfire. Years and years of mismanagement and greenlighting things that didn't make money. And then, you know, running headfirst into the woodchipper with the streaming. Because you all thought you could be Netflix. That's how we got here. That's how they get. And again, if we had years and years and years of hits, hit after hit after hit and all this stuff that got greenlit. Remember, water brothers greenlit Velma. Okay. They greenlit all like cartoon network shit for years. It's funny because you've been around for like this whole thing. Yeah. And we've said repeatedly, the news needs to go back to center because we're losing people. We said when they were greenlighting all this stupid stuff, it's like no one's going to watch that. You need to have mass appeal things and these aren't it. And we said when they were they all announced their own streaming service.

20:32We said it's going to be a highlander because they're going to all announce it. But they're all going to gobble each other up because it's not going to be enough for everybody. The pie is not big enough. And that's what's going to happen. And all of these things came to pass. Put some money in the jar. Or, you know, buy a geeky sparkles pen. You can do that too. So we'll wrap this up. Yes. All right. Please subscribe for more pop culture news, views and rants. We'll talk. The only thing we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because it blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you. Visit blinds.com now for up to 45% off-site wide. Plus a professional measure at no cost. Rules and restrictions apply.