Netflix has struck a nearly $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Brothers, beating out Paramount and Comcast after a bidding war.

If finalized, it would unite the world's largest streamer with one of Hollywood's oldest studios,

giving Netflix access to major franchises like the DC Universe, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter.

Warner Brothers would spin off cable networks,

including CNN, TNT, and TBS before the deal closes. The move raises big questions about the

future of theatrical releases and serious concerns about market concentration. It's expected to face

intense antitrust scrutiny from the Trump Justice Department. Joining us now to break it all down is Matt Bellany, founding partner of Puck

and author of Puck's What I'm Hearing Newsletter.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

So Netflix built its reputation.

It's prided itself on being a builder rather than a buyer.

So what does it want with Warner Brothers and why now?

I think there's a couple things. I mean, Netflix, as prolific as it is, it does not have the

intellectual property that has accrued at a 100-year-old studio. Everything from Batman and Superman to

Harry Potter to all the films that are in the Warner Brothers Library.

They can both exploit that on their service, put the films directly on the service,

and they can also make new films and TV shows based on that IP.

And for a service like Netflix that's really only been making original content for about a decade, that is extremely valuable.

And on the HBO side, that's a big competitor.

So they take that competitor out, and they also have now a premium version of a streamer to put next to Netflix where they could use it as an upsell.

They could bundle it together. They can get a

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