Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and television studios, plus HBO Max, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about US$72 billion. The transaction, announced Friday, hands the streaming giant marquee franchises from Batman to Harry Potter and positions Netflix as owner of a traditional Hollywood studio for the first time. Closing is slated for late 2026, pending antitrust reviews in Washington and Brussels.
Bigger platform, bigger purse
Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos called the purchase “a rare opportunity” that will “help us achieve our mission to entertain the world” on a call with investors. The enlarged business also means larger Canadian revenues, and that matters because of new rules under the Online Streaming Act.
Since September 2024, foreign streamers earning at least C$25 million a year here must pay five percent of that haul into domestic content funds. Chairperson Vicky Eatrides said the decision “will help ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content” when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission unveiled the levy.
Industry lawyers expect Netflix’s Canadian bill to rise sharply once Warner’s libraries and HBO Max subscriptions roll into the same wallet. The CRTC collected roughly C$200 million from all foreign services last year. A combined Netflix-HBO Max could add tens of millions more, potentially boosting the Independent Production Fund and Telefilm’s Talent Fund at a time when domestic shoots face higher financing costs.
For producers, the takeover cuts both ways. Netflix already runs a busy production hub in Vancouver and has partnered with studios in Toronto and Montreal. Control of Warner’s soundstages in Burbank and Leavesden may send some green-lit series south, yet the merged firm will still need local crews to qualify for provincial tax credits.
Lawyers say the real question is how the new owner will respond to the CRTC’s forthcoming definition of “Canadian program,” which could require bigger shares of copyright or on-screen talent to stay in the CanCon count.
Domestic broadcasters feel the heat
Bell Media’s premium streamer Crave relies on a multi-year licensing pact that makes it the “exclusive Canadian home of HBO and Max originals.” Those rights run beyond 2027, yet the sale puts renegotiations on a different footing. If Netflix chooses to let the deal lapse, Crave would lose its flagship shows, forcing Bell to invest more in proprietary series or seek new U.S. partners. Corus Entertainment, already grappling with cord-cutting, could also feel the squeeze if Netflix bundles the enlarged catalogue at a discount.
Ottawa will study competitive impacts. The Competition Bureau blocked parts of Rogers’s Shaw buyout before approving a remedied version in 2023, and officials signal the same playbook: behavioural conditions, possible divestitures, and public hearings.
Any Bureau order would sit beside CRTC conditions, creating dual oversight. Policy watchers expect Heritage Canada to insist that Netflix maintain a Canadian commissioning team and ensure French-language projects remain in the pipeline.
None of these hurdles will likely make the merger fail. Netflix has offered a C$7.9-billion break-up fee and promised to keep releasing Warner films theatrically to calm U.S. regulators. In Canada, the promise of larger content funds and job growth gives the deal political cover, though smaller streamers warn it could tilt bargaining power toward one global behemoth. Parliament spent two years crafting the Online Streaming Act to balance cultural goals with open markets. This takeover will be its first major test.
