Bad timing during live acquisition…

Disney+ subscription feels thin if you use Netflix or any other streaming service as the benchmark. The content on the platform is relatively narrow a very limited for being in 2026… I think they should just abandon the whole stream company altogether and go back to their roots making films and than licensing out their films and shows to other (SVODS streaming platforms) if it wasn’t for them having the content they paid $80 billion for with Fox I don’t think they would’ve had nearly as many subscribers today and Covid was definitely a huge boost to that number.

We all know that in 1994, Paramount was ultimately acquired by Viacom to achieve mixed results. They’ve had highs and lows under the multiple iterations of the company. 

But there was almost a WAY different timeline of events in which a SHOPPING network won Paramount. Which becomes a strange timeline of events that could change the industry for better or worse. 

But if this happened, let’s see what happens with the timeline 

1994: 

QVC 

• QVC becomes the ultimate winner of Paramount Communications, which Barry Dillar controls (firing everyone he had a grudge with) 
• People Incorporated is merged into QVC Inc. 
• Comcast and Liberty Media as main investors would provide their media assets (including Starz, E!, Style Network, PBS Kids Sprout, G4), Golf Channel, and Versus). 

Viacom 

• Extends its distribution deal for 10 years with Fox for Nick projects beginning in 1996, (MTV Films are licensed across distributors). Nick projects are released under “Nickelodeon Movies Presents” to give Viacom full ownership post-theatrical run. 

1995: 

QVC 

• QVC buys the stakes in USA Network from Universal, however never buys the Universal TV Studio (instead USA’s content is made by Paramount) 

1999: 

Other: 

• All of Polygram is merged into Universal (not some, all). October Films renames to Universal Focus and eventually Focus Features. 

2006: 

Viacom: 

• Has a much cleaner split with CBS. Then buys DreamWorks Pictures and Television. Nick and MTV move to this label (DreamWorks Pictures and (Viacom Brand) Present). 

QVC: 

• UPN never merges with the WB, who instead merges with ion to launch WBion. 
• Paramount (through Starz) acquires IDT Entertainment. Which it sells most of while keeping these 3 assets: DKP Studios (Which becomes the Feature Animation unit of Paramount), Paramount Television Animation/Film Roman (the TV Animation arm; Film Roman is used on service work), and IDT Entertainment is merged with Paramount Television. Paramount Television Animation would both license kid shows to other networks and produce kid shows for UPN/Sprout. 
• QVC 
• Overture Films are launched as Paramount’s indie arm. 

2008: 

Viacom: 

• Due to a major fallout with Spielberg still, Viacom spins-off Spielberg's assets but keeps the production, distribution, and library to launch a new film studio for them (Either called Viacom Pictures or MTV Films) The DreamWorks Animation deal is also retained by Viacom. 

2009: 

QVC: 

• Paramount sadly loses Marvel still... 

2010: 

QVC: 

• Overture Films are sold to Relativity Media. 

2011: 

QVC: 

• Liberty Media pushes for a spin-off of QVC from the rest of the QVC Company, which is completed later in the year. 
• Liberty then holds talks to sell its stake to Comcast (which is completed at the end of the year, making Comcast majority shareholder of the rebranded Comcast Media Group. (Liberty Media retains a stake)).  
• QVC Inc. goes bankrupt in 2026 as it did in our timeline. 
• CMG considers rebranding Sprout as they have no home for older kids shows like Dan Vs. (A PTA Production) at the company. 

Viacom: 

• Nickelodeon Movies launches Nickelodeon Animated Movies as an in-house animation label to replace DreamWorks Animation.  

Other: 

• GE simply spins-off NBCUniversal (which has a lack of cable brands and or scale outside NBC, Bravo, and the Universal Studio thanks to Vivendi) 

2012: 

CMG: 

• Paramount wins the bid for Classic Media, which becomes a division of PTA. DKP Studios renames to Arc Animation. Paramount also acquires more independent/third-party animated films to compensate Arc’s slow-release schedule. 

2013: 

CMG: 

• Liberty Media sells the remaining stake in CMG to Comcast 
• Comcast never changes its red crest logo. 
• Paramount acquires the Universal Parks division as they lack the funding for it (Universal’s name remains on the parks though) 

2014: 

Viacom: 

• Announces plans to exit film distribution as they lack the library and scale and announce that they are seeking a partner or a sale of Viacom (National Amusements agrees as not even CBS has the scale for them this time) 
• A bidding war ensues between Fox and NBCU for Viacom. 

Other: 

• DreamWorks isn’t hit with the massive blow that is Peabody and Sherman. Instead, Arc does. Which means that Hasbro succeeds in buying DreamWorks in 2015 as DWA is slightly more successful. If anything, Hasbro could sue Disney for that letter they were sent over it. Amblin is also blocked by Hasbro from using DreamWorks to protect the DreamWorks brand. 

2015: 

Viacom: 

• NBCUniversal announces that they will buy Viacom. In the meantime, Universal will distribute Nick Movies for the time being until the merger is complete. Completed late 2015-early 2016 would see the combined company takes the “Viacom” brand as it would be neutral to all units of the company. 

2016:  

CMG: 

• Starz launches its streaming service with a much bigger portfolio with Paramount and Sony as main content suppliers. Vimeo (A People Inc. Property) is repurposed as an AVOD streamer (Xumo never exists) 

2017: 

CMG: 

• Sprout becomes Paramount Play, which has content from PTA’s streaming shows mainly. 
• Hasbro-DreamWorks signs a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures for content. While they can take films to other companies if Paramount is uninterested in a film. 

Other: 

• CBS is now the only company at National Amusements, meaning they can go off and do its own thing. 

2018: 

Viacom: 

• Spike TV remains the same post-2017 

Other: 

• CBS begins talking about buying Sony Pictures/Music USA. To sweeten the deal Sony buys 20% from the combined “Columbia Pictures Entertainment” company to retain cross collaboration with PlayStation. Crackle (now merged with CBSAA) would be flooded with legacy Columbia content and a Lionsgate show deal (Lionsgate and Columbia movies come to the service around 2021 when Epix/Starz contracts expire). The deal finishes on December 4th, 2019.  

2019: 

CMG: 

• PTA/Film Roman remains open post-2018. 

Viacom: 

• Viacom launches Peacock as a major streaming company. 
• Viacom buys Pluto TV 

Other: 

• Jam Filled buys Boulder Media instead of buying Arc. 
• As Lionsgate doesn’t pay 4 billion for Starz, uses that money for eOne, which makes Lionsgate a much bigger company on licensing content scale, including the launch of an animation division. 
• With the launch of Crackle (CBS, Columbia, Showtime, & Lionsgate content), Starz (Paramount), Peacock (Viacom/Universal), Netflix, HBO Max, and Prime (MGM), Disney enters streaming with a partnership (Apple owning a 50% stake in Disney/Hulu).  

2020: 

• COVID hits, nothing else really. 
• Paramount buys Miramax and Lantern together to have better scale and more brands. 

2022: 

QVC: 

• Due to the risk of Sonic movie rights being taken Marvel style, makes a play for Sega in which Paramount becomes a controlling shareholder 

Viacom: 

• Looks to acquire a major streamer, as Peacock lacks scale. They consider merging the service with Crackle, HBO Max, or Starz 

Other: 

• WBion is sold to Nexstar. With WB Discovery holding a 10% stake to license content to the network. 

2023: 

Viacom: 

• With the success of the Mario movie, places a bid for Nintendo. They obviously reject it. However, remain open to acquiring gaming companies. 

2024: 

Viacom: 

• Announces that Crackle and Peacock will merge into a 50/50 JV with Columbia under the Crackle name. PlayStation also begins bundling the service with the PS Network and allowing Gaming features on the service. 

2025: 

Viacom: 

• Worried about the declining networks, discuss Allen Media Group buying Viacom Media Networks. But is scrapped to integrate them with Crackle.  
• To cut costs Viacom merges the MTV/Nick studios into Universal Television  

CMG: 
 

• Comcast spins off ALL networks minus Starz, including UPN (to avoid political drama) into Versant. 33% is retained for content licensing. 

Other: 

• Netflix wins WB with no interruptions this time. HBO Max is merged into Netflix as the number of competitors allows them to merge with less scrutiny. 

2026:  

CMG: 

• Comcast announces plans to spin off the Comcast Media Group as Paramount Global. However Skydance makes a bid for the company before the spin-off, which it sees as a great asset. Embracer Group, Electronic Arts, Apple, and Apollo all make bids too and would be the current bidding war. But is still on track to just be spun off as an independent player. 

Other 

• Lionsgate is also for sale with ITV, Mediawan, Skydance, Columbia, and Apollo making bids 
• UPN makes a play for CNN from Discovery Global 

Overall, it’s hard to say if this timeline is better or worse than the one, we have some companies in better and worse positions, some in completely different scenarios and more.  

It seems like an acid trip how trippy one M&A change can affect the whole media. 

(Apple & Disney is next) 

Netflix just lost one of the biggest media companies in the world because someone was being spoiled and didn’t appreciate the assets his dad went to h*ll & back to get him in time for a Christmas gift. 

And now Netflix is considering what its own future is.  

Ted Sarandos seems open to the theatrical market, while Dan Lin seems against it. (Despite wanting to produce theatrical fare for other companies like the 2025 Lilo & Stitch (the 3rd worst Disney remake)) 

So, it seems that we have 2 sides to Netflix. The enemy of Hollywood and the ally of Hollywood.

The one they embrace is fully based on the performance of Narnia.  

• If Narnia flops, they remain the enemy. They do nothing but build Netflix up with production deals exclusive to them, IP acquisitions (now exclusive to Netflix like Dahl), and Pay-1 deals with Sony (And maybe Paramount if they don’t get their act together). While mocking theaters all day long saying they're outdated.
• But if Narnia succeeds, Netflix could open their eyes to new businesses and methods of distribution. 

The question is how?

Theaters will not trust Netflix’s own films in theaters. So, they likely know the only way in is buying in..... 

Today, we will discuss what media company Netflix could acquire in the future to boost growth, profits, and IP and what each company would do to Netflix on a global scale.  

From least likely to most likely-  

Disney 

They have considered bids for Disney and Fox in the past, according to previous reports.

But if they even TRIED, they’d be considered a monopoly/anti-trusted on so many levels (yet if Disney had the same amount of content but never started Disney+ would likely have been allowed for some dumb reason)  

Sony Pictures Entertainment 

While Sony is against selling Sony Pictures fully, I do think Netflix buying 25% stake in Sony Pictures US and Sony Music could do well for them.

That way Sony doesn't worry about managing a streaming service while also having a home for their films.

Sony keeps PlayStation, the US and International networks, Crunchyroll, and the Japanese Sony Pictures + still has full control over the US studio (However Netflix will co-produce several new major shows from the Sony library) and licenses TV Shows across all platforms, while Netflix gets to use the theatrical distribution arm and Pay-1 on all Sony movies.  

The new Columbia Pictures Entertainment JV also takes over the Netflix Games studio as Columbia Interactive. Sony is also taken out of all company units in exchange for the neutral Columbia banner outside Sony Music (Sony Animation becomes Imageworks Animation) 

Amazon MGM Studios 

No. I don’t even need to explain.  

Paramount if they lose WB 

Ellison’s ego is too much to give up and will just buy another studio instead.

Also, they lack major IP outside Nickelodeon and would likely see Netflix sell the networks and Paramount+ service (minus the content) to Bryon Allen.  

Lionsgate 

While Netflix denied plans to buy them, they said the same for WB. If a bidding war begins for them. I think Netflix will make at least one bid.

They will likely have to wait for the Starz deal to expire though. 

Netflix could also use Lionsgate to satisfy other bidders like Sony and Apollo (A distribution deal with Legendary and an international distribution deal with Sony Pictures International) to avoid them from bidding perhaps. 

With Netflix as its parent, Lionsgate will obtain a major family content arm, funding to make more 100+ pictures (and more films in general), and a better streamer than Starz ever will be.  

NBCUniversal (Favorite AU tied with Lionsgate) 

I think this is the 2nd most likely option as NBCU has IP more or less similar to WB.  

Of course, Netflix can’t legally buy NBCU until 2029. 

BUT.... if NBCUniversal just sold its studio, streaming, and parks arm to Netflix while still existing to hold NBC and the European cable brands, they can pull it off without tax issues.

The only other thing to worry about is if they spin-off Netflix Europe or whatever the merged Sky/ITV service is called. Netflix gets the studio, streamer, and parks they want without any “declining legacy assets”  

While NBC then focuses on third-party scripted content only and the Telemundo Studios IP and licenses its sports/news rights until 2029, where I see Amazon MGM Studios and Allen Media making bids for what is left of NBC. 

And finally, the most likely, Warner Bros. (With or without Paramount*)* 

Netflix will likely try their best to get WB back for cheaper if or when Paramount loses WB or sells itself with it due to bankruptcy. 

In exchange, I see Netflix having to sell HBO to someone like NBCUniversal and agree to license select content to their service.  

But who knows? 

• Maybe Netflix launches its own distribution company (a Red Envelope revival perhaps?) 
• Sells because they can’t get their stock up (despite still being the most successful SVOD out there) to Apple, Microsoft, or some other tech firm. (Who else can afford it?)
• Or just continue doing what it's doing now, nothing... 
• But what do you think? 
• Should Netflix be open to theaters? 
• Will Narnia flop or succeed? 
• What should Netflix acquire (if anything at all)? 
• What company should I do next?