In this week’s Brief: We break down the massive Netflix and Paramount fight to out-bid one another in a multibillion-dollar purchase of Warner Bros.—a move that could reshape everything in Hollywood and change how Americans engage TV and movies. Is this a death knell for movie theaters? Are the streaming wars done or just getting started? What does a deal mean for average consumers? We tackle it all!
Plus, hear our thoughts on Spotify’s annual “Wrapped” feature, updates on farmer relief packages, the latest on drug-running vessel strikes in the Caribbean, and more pressure being placed on Venezuela. And of course, we talk about the now finalized College Football Playoff bracket!
And as always, we step back to ask what all this movement—on the field, in Hollywood, in Washington, and around the globe—means for Christians trying to stay wise, steady, and hopeful in a fast-shifting culture.
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Topics
- (00:00): Introduction
- (00:13): Philip Rivers’ NFL comeback
- (01:58): Netflix and Warner Bros. deal
- (04:34): Paramount’s competing bid
- (07:19): Implications for Hollywood and beyond
- (13:04): Streaming wars and market competition
- (22:46): Theater experience vs. home viewing
- (28:37): Spiritual reflections on media influence
- (32:32): Listener engagement and Spotify Wrapped
- (36:29): Global news and conflicts
- (39:42): Upcoming sports events
Resources
- Send us your thoughts, questions, and topic ideas: [email protected]
- Culture Brief Instagram
- Watch on Youtube!
- Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe
Articles on this week’s top headlines:
- How a Netflix-Warner Deal Would Change Everything in Hollywood—Again – WSJ
- What Netflix Gains From Buying Warner Bros.
- CNN: Paramount goes hostile
- NYT: DealBook: Does Netflix have a chance?
- Alex Sherman on X
- Behind Paramount’s Relentless Campaign to Woo Warner Discovery and President Trump – WSJ
About Conner Jones
Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.
About Micah Tomasella
Micah Tomasella is the Director of Advancement at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.
About Denison Forum
Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, the Faith & Clarity podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited.
Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones.
Micah Tomasella: I’m Micah Tomasella
Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, and technology. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. And Micah, last week when we talked, if I had said Batman could end up in Stranger Things and Philip Rivers would be back in the NFL, would you have thought I was crazy?
Micah Tomasella: I think I would’ve believed the first thing more than the second thing. You’re right Philip Rivers has been retired since like the COVID years. But you know what? Good for them. I mean, if he comes back to the Colts, the Indianapolis Colts and leads that team to some playoff success, I mean, that would just be one of the most incredible sports stories of all.
Time. Who knows? I’m on board with it. Let’s see what happens. To
Conner Jones: clarify for the listeners, he’s, he is been outta the league for four or five years. He’s also 44 years old and a grandfather now, and he is a grandfather.
Micah Tomasella: Yes.
Conner Jones: He, he’s signed with the practice squad this morning with the Indianapolis Colts to potentially be the starting quarterback that is to replace Danny Dimes who got injured this past Sunday and is out for the [00:01:00] season.
Micah Tomasella: That is unbelievable because, you know, for a fact he came into a tryout, right? And they were literally. You know, the people making decisions, the gm, the coaches for the Indianapolis Colts must have said, wow, this guy’s still got it. This guy can still rip it. I mean, otherwise, why would you do this?
Because they’re, they’re a good team. They could still make some waves in the playoffs. They’re good. You just need somebody who can pass the ball and control the. Control the game and all that stuff. Anyway, I digress. All right, so here’s what we’re gonna be talking about today. Okay? We’ve got Netflix buying Warner Bros.
All right, so that’s, maybe that’s a big deal. Maybe. I mean, we’re, we’re gonna jump into that and what that really looks like. ’cause you got Paramount making shadow bids and Trump is involved and. The justice departments of all. I mean, it’s all kinds of things. We’re, we’re gonna talk through our mail mailbag.
We got some Spotify wrapped results that, that we wanna share with you guys. And just thank our loyal culture, brief audience, farmer bailout, latest on drug boats in Venezuela and so much more. So let’s jump into the brief. The brief. Alright, so as we jump into our [00:02:00] story here, you know, Netflix is buying Warner Bros.
Or are they? And then we’ve got Paramount making shadow bids to buy Warner Bros. And everything that’s involved in it. You know, we’ll kind of get into how all of these worlds can come together and how it’s exciting, but also really hard to wrap our minds around how does it affect movie theaters?
Like what, what does all of this mean? So we’re calling this a streaming shakeup. Hollywood is in an actual Hollywood moment right now. The
Conner Jones: drama is big.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, the drama is big. The antagonist is in a, the billionaires are fighting state of despair. You know, the, the, the protagonist. I mean, we are this is truly a Hollywood moment where what is going to happen, things to be, you know, things seem to be kind of on a cusp of going one direction or the other.
So this is not just a merger rumor though, right? It’s all about who will control some of the biggest franchises in the world, Connor, who shapes the news that a lot of Americans watch. It affects that too. And how much cultural influence. One platform, one media company should have, and right [00:03:00] now the landscape is shifting in real time where moment by moment, day by day, something’s shifting.
Something is changing. So Netflix wants Warner Bros. Paramount wants Warner Bros, Washington. Watching very closely about who gets Warner Bros. Wall Street is trying to guess which version of the future becomes real. So they know what to invest in, what they know, what to bet on. So let’s talk through what we know and what we don’t know.
We’re gonna be very careful with that. I’m gonna kind of set the stage for Connor. I’m gonna set it up for him to spike it here and why the stakes are so high. So here’s what we know so far. Okay. First of all, here’s the confirmed landscape of what we know right now. As we’re recording Wednesday, December 10th and we’re releasing the episode.
Thursday morning, December 11th, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have signed a deal worth $83 billion. Netflix would acquire the Warner Bros film and TV studios, HBO. HBO max and all their gaming assets. Okay. But it would not get the table networks, the cable networks, cable, cable, like h like uh, [00:04:00] C-N-N-T-N-T-T-B-S discovery because that those would be spun into a new company called Discovery Global before the deal closes.
So that would kind of go into its own thing called Discovery Global. So Netflix is not acquiring the TV stations. If this goes through net, Netflix would suddenly own things like DCE. Harry Potter, the studio level rights connected to the Lord of the Rings, the entire HBO Prestige Library, and a massive production footprint across Hollywood analysts say that would redraw the entertainment power map virtually overnight.
Okay, so then Paramount Skydance stepped in with a hostile all cash offer to, and I, I love that they like, even legally call it a hostile. Oh yeah. Offer. It’s oh yeah, of course this is hostile, right? You’re, you’re coming in in the 11th hour upping it, saying, oh, somebody’s gonna beat me. Okay I’m gonna come and hire.
But Paramount Skydance is willing to buy it all by the entire Warner Bros Discovery Company for a. [00:05:00] $108,000,000,000.40. Okay. Their pitch is simple. Their offer’s richer, cleaner, and more likely to get regulatory approval, and they want CNN, which Netflix does not. They want the TV networks, Netflix does not.
Two competing futures are officially on, on the table. Connor, what are your initial thoughts so far on all this?
Conner Jones: No matter what happens here, it’s going to upend a lot in Hollywood. And so we’ll dive into that in just a minute. But I do wanna point out why Warner Brothers would not just immediately go Schwartz Paramount, who’s offered this richer you could say Better deal to buy the whole company.
Yeah, because I
Micah Tomasella: definitely thought that, ’cause on paper I’m like. Why not go with the Paramount deal?
Conner Jones: Yeah. You’re like, they’re, they’re offering more per share and all of that. The, I think the, the worry there is the financing and Netflix has a ton of cash on hand. They’re basically doing an all cash bid here and they’ve got some financing coming from like American banks such as Wells Fargo, but Paramount is dipping into other places.
They’re dipping into. David, if you remember, we talked about this in the summer, David Ellison is the son of [00:06:00] Larry Ellison. Yeah. Larry Ellison is the second richest man on the planet. He’s worth. $400 billion. His son David, bought Paramount for $8 billion earlier this summer. That was easy peasy money for them, but this is a much bigger amount of money, and so they’re having to dip into getting financing from other banks and more specifically Saudi Arabian Sovereign wealth funds, which is not exactly what Warner Brothers feels like.
They can trust to actually come through maybe a
Micah Tomasella: gray area. At best.
Conner Jones: It’s a little bit of a gray area for moral, ethical, and financial grounds. And so if you’re wondering why they don’t just immediately go to Paramount, that’s kind of the big reason there.
Micah Tomasella: Didn’t you say the, the CEO of Netflix? Or Warner Bros.
Warner Brothers wants to work for Netflix.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Netflix has apparently offered the CEO of Warner Brothers, David Savv, who is considerably the worst, Hollywood, CEO of all time. He really ran this company into the ground, but he’s gonna, he’s gonna get a nice nest egg of 500 to 600 billion, or sorry, million dollars.
Out of this deal because of all of his shares. No matter what happens, he ran the company to the ground, but he’s gonna just, he’s, he’s flying off free, but he likes to party with [00:07:00] Hollywood celebrities. He likes to be courtside at Madison Square Garden, of course, travel to the film festivals in Europe, of course.
And so don’t we all. And so he, he wants to continue doing that and Netflix has offered him the opportunity to have a nice cushy job at their company if they, if he yeah
Micah Tomasella: don’t, don’t you love it when people get rewarded for doing bad work? Is it that? It’s incredible stuff. I’m being sarcastic. All right, so let’s talk about the players and what they want.
’cause there’s several, there’s several angles to this and several large influential entities a part of this. So let’s look at a, just a quick look at the motivations. So Netflix is trying to grow at scale. This deal would strengthen its ad tier, load up its pipeline with major franchises and give it a library that literally no one can match, right?
Like it wouldn’t even be close. Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to fix debt that you know. The CEO helped accumulate and escape a streaming war. It’s been losing from the jump. Okay. Breaking up the company is their attempt to stop their financial bleeding so Paramount Skydance sees an opening to [00:08:00] leapfrog its competitors with significant outside investment.
They argue that regulators will prefer their structure over Netflix becoming even bigger. Okay. And in the White House and the Justice Department are signaling, they plan to scrutinize both bids. But Trump has already said he wants a role in this decision, which adds a political layer that no one can control.
And something to think about here too is that Trump does have a good relationship with the Ellison family. Okay. So we do have to wonder how that plays into it. Trump cannot, ultimately, I’ve, I’ve read up a lot on this, on Trump, like what Trump can actually do. He can direct the Justice Department and from the White House like.
If they want to move forward, if Warner Bros. Discovery wants to move forward with the Netflix bid, the White House and the Justice Department could make it really difficult, but they really can’t, specifically, the White House can’t ultimately stop it, but it is a factor to keep in mind do you want to battle the White House in the decision that you make?
Okay, so that’s something that they’re kind of thinking through right now. And then Hollywood labor unions are preparing for consolidation and potential job cuts because of this. No matter [00:09:00] what happens, like it’s gonna shake up like because Warner Bros. Discovery is selling. It’s just, which direction are they gonna go?
Everyone has something at stake here. Am I missing anything on that part Connor?
Conner Jones: Yeah, there’s just, there Both companies would cut thousands of jobs at Warner Brothers. Yeah. If they bring ’em. ’cause they’re, then they would have two of every position in a lot of ways. And so they’re like, either way it’s not good for Hollywood and talent and, and you know, the people who work on crews and sets and all of that.
And in the offices of these studios, it’s gonna be a lot of job loss, which that’s another thing that Warner Brothers is considering, is which company would cut less jobs and save more jobs within their company. Now, and Netflix has said they would cut less than Paramount would, but who really
Micah Tomasella: knows?
You’d think too, that Trump should consider that considering kind of the bad job numbers these last few months. You know, you would almost prefer the one that would cut the least amount of jobs if you’re trying to put like a good economic. Record out there that the economy’s picking up jobs and shedding less jobs.
I mean, who knows how much that actually plays into it. Okay, so here’s what we still do not know so [00:10:00] these are the things I wanna clarify that we don’t know. This part matters as much as the facts because there’s just been so much out there. We do not know which offer Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will choose.
Okay, so Netflix has said, has a signed agreement, but Paramount’s cash offer has created pressure walking away from Netflix. Netflix would trigger major penalties, but it could still be done. We don’t know what regulators will allow. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing right now. So a Netflix Warner Bros combination raises real antitrust questions.
This is a big part of it. Okay. Paramount’s bid brings up questions about foreign capital and another large media consolidation, but Netflix is also facing a new consumer class action lawsuit. This is new as of like yesterday, seeking to block the deal entirely, which adds another layer, layer of legal uncertainty.
We don’t know what happens to CNN and the remaining cable networks. Okay. Discovery Global could stay independent or quickly could become another acquisition target altogether. And then there are already early inquiries from outside buyers about CNN and the broader Discovery Global bundle, [00:11:00] but no formal offers have been made yet on that part.
We do not know how disruptive Netflix’s integration would be a deal this size would. Almost certainly mean, like we said, large job cuts, large budget cuts, and even some content cuts as well. These are big unknowns, but this is something that is worth noting that I think you’re gonna get into. There is a real antitrust issue here of the government does step in and there’s a legal precedent to stop one company monopolizing an entire industry.
Like you don’t want an entire grocery store chain to take over all grocery stores in the country. That is anti-capitalism, anti-free market principle competition is what drives prices down. And so if Netflix takes his, takes over, that’s a real concern because ultimately if they just start dominating and being the real only name in Hollywood and in streaming, they can charge and do whatever they want,
Conner Jones: yeah. We’re gonna dive into that. ’cause that’s one of the big implications of this whole thing is the, the what happens to us people. That’s like the biggest thing I’m thinking
Micah Tomasella: about people I feel like. Yeah, yeah,
Conner Jones: yeah. We’re not in the boardrooms. [00:12:00] We don’t really care that much about the multi-billion dollar transactions.
What we do care about is what does this mean for us? A couple years down the road with Hollywood and all of that. So yeah. Micah, did you have anything else you were gonna add? Or we ready to dive into some of the bigger implications? Yeah,
Micah Tomasella: let me just. Let me just touch on this cultural layer real quick.
Yeah. So there is a cultural layer to this. This is not only about who owns Batman, which again, they could acquire dc, right? Or who gets the friends reruns. It’s about nice who shapes the news, who frames the culture, and how much control just a few companies would have over what Americans watch. But even what a country like Saudi Arabia.
Could have over American entertainment and news. I mean, it’s just an interesting question. Public interest groups and some lawmakers are already warning that those deals could reduce competition, could cut a lot of jobs, and then could shrink the range of voices in entertainment and news. So Connor, here’s the question.
Are we watching the end of streaming wars or the beginning of a long fight over who controls American media for the next generation? And then how does this affect movie theaters even those are [00:13:00] just some of the questions that I’m coming to that I’m sure you’re about to get into.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I think with that, you know, the streaming wars it’s been going on, it will continue on.
But there has been for the last two or three years, a clear winner into obviously Netflix. They have, yeah, already by far in a way, the most subscribers to their streaming service. Disney is second, and then Warner Brothers has HBO Max, which is actually fourth. But Netflix has 300 million subscribers, and Warner Brothers has, I think, 128 million on HBO Max.
I’m sure a lot of that is overlap people too. But either way, Netflix bringing them into the fold. Of the HBO Max platform, bringing them into their Netflix fold brings way more subscribers, helps them grow. ’cause right now they’re kind of capped a lot of analysts believe that 300 million is about as high as you’re gonna go as a streaming service.
There’s not that many more people you can get subscribed. At least not That’s interesting. Consistently. Yeah. It, it’s kind of like they, it’s only only 300
Micah Tomasella: million globally.
Conner Jones: Yeah. But what you have to remember is how many people log on through other people’s.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. But logins, Netflix did a pretty good job of shutting that down though.
Down. They were, they were [00:14:00] the first company to shut that down. I mean, I pay for my own now. I mean, it worked on me. I tried everything, mom. Yeah, was mom. It was my mom or my in-laws. Look man, I’m on my, I’m on my parent account. Yeah, yeah.
Conner Jones: That’s what you do. And a lot of people do that. You’re right. They did start to crack down quite a bit, but what they’ve also done is raise their prices and so they’ve priced so many people out of being able to, I know to join in sore, expensive.
So how do we get more people without. You know, they introduce an ad tier that makes it cheaper for some people to, to log in and get an account. You just have to watch ads, all of that. So they’ve thought about that, but I think they really see this as like their opportunity to grow. And honestly, Micah, they don’t see these other streamers as their main competitor.
They see YouTube and TikTok as their main competitors. They’re scared of those two things. Yeah. And that’s their antitrust case here. They’re not saying, oh, we’re just buying up another Hollywood studio to, to own Hollywood. They’re saying we have to do it to compete with these other players, these tech companies that are also generating so much time and attention on screens that’s not [00:15:00] Netflix.
They’re saying that’s, that’s
Micah Tomasella: a really good point. I mean, I really don’t wanna throw you off here, but you think about. When it comes to American entertainment in Hollywood, you go from movies that you can only see in movie theaters to then like VHS and then DVD, and then streaming. But it, it wasn’t really a question of do people enjoy long form content?
They did, but then you’ve got an entire generation, gen Z, gen Alpha that’s coming up. A lot of them won’t even sit down to watch a 30 minute show anymore. A lot of podcasts, like we get a lot of reel views and so many people who engage with our reels are one minute reels, but they’re not gonna listen to the 45 minute podcast right there.
There is an attention span change in the American consumer that you’re right, like Netflix is competing against like 32nd videos on TikTok or 10 minute videos on YouTube and, and, and that’s just like a different competition altogether. We’ve really seen a big shift there.
Conner Jones: Yeah. If you wanna know how they’re gonna approach this in a legal case, if they end up actually keeping this [00:16:00] bid away from Paramount, they’re gonna say, TikTok is Chinese owned there.
We are American owned. You know, we, we are a better option if we can compete with TikTok to have American eyeballs on our, on our platform, as opposed to TikTok. And YouTube is honestly even bigger than Netflix. YouTube is like the biggest entertainment system in America. And so it’s all full of that’s how they’re gonna approach film, by the way.
Micah Tomasella: But yeah.
Conner Jones: Yes it is. Yeah. And Netflix is, you know, known for creating AKA like slop essentially is what a lot of people say, like just bad television. They have some good shows that get a lot of attention, but for sure, but they create so much bad television and movies and reality TV and stuff with the entire idea of filling an algorithm, essentially curated to everybody.
Micah Tomasella: Their goal, their, their goal is quantity. Over quality. Sure. Like when you create that many. Okay. Like when I go to Cheesecake Factory and the menu is 38 pages long, it’s not, you know what I mean? It’s like you’re flipping through it, you’re okay. Like you’re not going to, you’re not concentrated, you’re not gonna be excellent at anything [00:17:00] you’re gonna have if you’re offering that many things.
But the goal is quantity over quality and it’s absolutely worked for them.
Conner Jones: It has worked for them, but that, and that’s what they’re doing with this, this transaction, right? If they get Warner Brothers, it allows them to bring in more content into their library. I think it triples the size of their library.
’cause Warner Brothers has been around for a hundred years creating so many movies over time. And then it also, this HBO Max thing, they’re bringing in some of the top shows. Game of Thrones, the Sopranos succession the Pit is a huge show right now. They would get all of that on their platform, which.
Automatically ups the game of their television service. Unbelievable service. What you think about it, it gives them prestige television, which is something they don’t really have. So it’s a big deal. I wanted to quote something here, Micah, from the former Warner Brothers ceo, EO. Back in 2010, Netflix had really just conquered Blockbuster.
They had already been like that, that David and Goliath situation, where they took over Blockbuster. Oh, I saw this with the, yeah, the mail-in service. Okay. Yeah. The CEO of Warner Brothers. In 2010, his name was Jeff Buchs. He laughed off Netflix when they were starting their streaming service in [00:18:00] 2010, and he said it, he was asked about if they were a threat to Hollywood giants, such as Warner Brothers and all that, and he responded with, it’s kind of like the Albanian army is going to take over the world.
And he laughed at them and he said, you know, there’s no chance essentially. And now here we are 15 years later and Netflix is coming to buy that giant Warner Brothers. They really have been smart about the way they’ve approached all of media and entertainment. They were the first streamer and then they started buying up their own content.
Essentially. They started with House of Cards, which was a huge hit, and that really built up their streaming service. They’ve been smart man. This is not unprecedented though, Micah. I was gonna point out that back in 2019, we saw a similar transaction. Disney bought f. Most of Fox. They bought all of the Fox.
Yeah. Movie studios. They bought a lot of IP X-Men. You know the Simpsons Ice Age right now? A movie you would watch on Disney Plus is Home Alone. That was a Fox movie. But now it’s on Disney Plus. ’cause they got the rights to that, right? They did not buy all the news networks and all the TV networks.
So Fox, right? News and Fox Sports Networks [00:19:00] and Fox, like the TV channel you watched football on. That’s all. Stayed with Fox. That’s all the Fox Corporation. Because
Micah Tomasella: that’s, that’s what Fox wanted to focus on. You know what’s funny when you say that? That was six years ago and it’s almost normal to me, right?
You know all the titles X-Men. I was like, yeah, it’s on Disney. Wait, no. It’s a marvel, right? Yeah. You just kind of, wow. So that,
Conner Jones: that’s what I’m saying. This is not unprecedented. That was six years ago and it, that’s just become the norm here. Wasn’t as big as
Micah Tomasella: this one, but yeah,
Conner Jones: this one’s slightly bigger, but it was, it’s similar.
If Netflix got this, they get those TV studio or the movie studios, but not the TV studios. Paramount wants the whole thing though. Either way. What we’re gonna see is a shrinkage of the Hollywood studio system. There used to be a big six, then Fox was bought by Disney. Drop down to Big Five and now we’re gonna go down to a big four.
And what that does, Micah, is consolidation. And ultimately that does hurt us, the consumers. Yeah, I don’t love it. I, I, I’ll point out, back in the 2000 tens we saw the big airline consolidation. So Micah, you might remember US Airways, Northwest Airlines, continental [00:20:00] Airlines, some of those names that. Are no longer around ’cause they got bought by American and Delta and Southwest and United.
So now we’ve got the Big four airlines. And what that did was cause us all to have to pay more for, to, to fly essentially and get more fees and rely more upon these four airlines as opposed to a wider range of competition. So that’s what’s gonna happen in Hollywood and it will cut jobs, it will also reduce the output.
It’s gonna reduce the amount of scripts that get read, the amount of movies that get Greenlighted TV shows that get greenlighted. But ultimately, Micah, my biggest worry with Netflix buying Warner Brothers is movie theaters. I think this is a, a massive worry in Hollywood right now. And one of the reasons a lot of people in Hollywood would actually prefer Paramount get Warner Brothers Paramount.
David Ellison has said he would still put 30 movies into the movie theaters every year. It’s gonna be a movie production company. He, he produced Top Gun Maverick. He produced some other really large movies in his time, and so he’s more pro movies. This would be interesting if Netflix buys it because they are [00:21:00] not pro movie theater.
Obviously their whole thing is keeping you at home.
Micah Tomasella: They’re saying they would though, but what would actually hold them accountable to it? I wonder if it, if, if Netflix does end up being able to purchase it, I wonder if they could write it into the contract that they would. Still release movies. I mean, that’s just such a big industry now.
I mean, the, the movie theater industry has been hurting for a long time. You know, I mean, they haven’t really recovered from the COVID years either, you know, and just all the, all the great TV and movies that we have access to at home now. I mean, it’s just purely convenience. And, you know, you and I have talked about this being, being dads of young kids.
Connor used to go to the movies all the time. It’s probably been a while since you’ve been in the movie theater. Probably been a while in college.
Conner Jones: I was at the movie theater once a week, probably at least. I go, I try to go at least once a month now. I’d normally just have to go, go after week. You’ve that card that that’ve got.
I had that movie pass card, dude. I was seeing movies. All the unlimited
Micah Tomasella: movies. Yeah. Yeah. Connor is the cinema movie guy in my life, and he has been for 10 years. You know. So
Conner Jones: catch me at Avatar at the end of the month. That’s where you know [00:22:00] you’re gonna go. You’re gonna go see Avatar. Actually, I’m glad I said that because Micah, that reminds me when Disney bought Fox, what that did.
Kinda like you’re saying, the movie theaters have already been in decline. When Disney bought Fox, they got all those properties and they made it. Less about smaller mid-budget movies. Yeah, they started making more tent pole. We saw all the Marvel movies. We’ve seen Avatar and the movie theaters really have come to rely on these big budget films that are kind of evangelized and everybody goes in like a one to two week period, and then it, it empties out for the next month or two until another big movie comes.
And that’s not great. That, and Netflix is only gonna add to that, but that, that makes sense to
Micah Tomasella: me personally. I like going to movies, like especially growing up, like I loved going to the movies, but there’s a lot of movies like dramas and comedies, right? There’s no difference watching it at home than watching it in the movie theater.
For me, I know that you kind of romanticize it a little bit more than I do, but, but I feel Top Gun. If I had seen Top Gun at Home, like I would not have. Got, [00:23:00] you know, it, it would’ve been a totally different experience. I would’ve seen it in a different light. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. I saw Top Gun Maverick in theaters, and to this day, it’s a top three movie I’ve seen in the last five years, and I, I’m telling you what it’s, ’cause I saw it in theaters like.
Those are the types of movies that you have to see in a movie theater right now, for sure.
Conner Jones: Oh, absolutely. No, I, I’m right there with you. It used to be you always went to the theaters, and part of that was because they had this 90 day exclusive window where a movie came out in theaters and you wouldn’t get it on DVD or I know at Blockbuster for another three months.
So if you wanted to know about that movie, you had to go. That window has shrunk down to 45 days, and in some cases less than that. Netflix puts movies in theaters now for one to two weeks and they only do it so they can be nominated for Oscars. ’cause that’s one of the requirements, right? Yeah. So the fear is Netflix would try to shrink that window down of exclusivity to two weeks, maybe 30 days at first, but then keep shrinking down until ultimately they probably are like, ah, we’ll put a movie in theater for a week and then we want it on Netflix, which makes people not go to the theater.
They’re like, I could just wait seven days and it’ll be [00:24:00] on my tv. But you’re right, some movies, I, I get it. I, I don’t, I don’t go see dramas really at the theater anymore. I really mostly just go to see anything that I think will be much better on a big screen sound. Yeah. Avatar.
Micah Tomasella: Avatar. You should see film.
Yeah. Avatar or mission film. Visually spectacular. Yeah.
Conner Jones: Yeah. It, it makes sense and it’s, and theaters are expensive ultimately. It, it, yeah. It changes the game in Hollywood. It changes the way a lot of people see films. It changes the way we as consumers approach films, the way we engage with our entertainment.
And we have to remember that Netflix really is a tech company that just happens to produce films and entertain us, but they’re really, like I said, they’re competing with TikTok and YouTube. I would not say that they see themselves in the same realm as a Paramount or 20th Century Fox or Sony Pictures or anything like that.
They see themselves as a. Tech company, and this is just the service they provide. And so they’re trying to compete with those big tech giants. They’re, they’re scared of Apple, Amazon, and Google, not necessarily Sony pictures. You know what I mean?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah. No, I do. And Connor, [00:25:00] honestly, this topic I would say, like you, you’re probably the expert in my life on this topic of you just live, eat, breathe, sleep. This this is a natural topic for you. What is your prediction of how all this shakes out in the acquisition of Warner Bros. And what’s your prediction on Okay. It’s it, they’re gonna be acquired by one or the other. Yep. How do you what are movie theaters in three years?
You know, what are your predictions on both of those things?
Conner Jones: I, and
Micah Tomasella: then we’re gonna hold you to it.
Conner Jones: Okay? We’re gonna hold you to it. Come back in three years. See, here’s the thing. Somebody else could just swoop it. What if Amazon just came in with an insane bid themselves? You know, no. It’s probably gonna be, it will be either Netflix or Paramount that buys this company.
I think Paramount will continue to up their, up their bid until they finally get it. David Ellison is adamant that he wants to buy Warner Brothers, and so he’s going to go as far as he can. So I think Paramount actually ends up with this. I’ve been talking as though Netflix is gonna get it because they did sign this deal with Warner Brothers so that they are the exclusive deal.
Like they, they’ve got this ability to [00:26:00] negotiate even more because if they break this deal now. Netflix and Warner Brothers, I think Warner Brothers owes Netflix $5 billion for breaking the deal off, which not gonna change for the
Micah Tomasella: Ellisons
Conner Jones: chump cha. Yeah. And the ellisons will just front that money to them.
Yeah. So it’s, I really think it’s gonna be paramount and I think David Ellison is big on putting theaters. At the forefront of the movie industry. And so he’s not so focused on streaming. In fact, paramount Plus is way down there in streaming numbers. It’s like eighth or ninth in all the streaming platforms.
So this would be a boost to Paramount, which is crazy
Micah Tomasella: to me because Paramount has all the Taylor Sheridan shows. It
Conner Jones: does not have Yellowstone, the biggest one. Oh, Yellowstone on Peacock. You
Micah Tomasella: gotta remember that one. That was so confusing. That was just such a confusing ordeal. Anyway. That’s ’cause
Conner Jones: Paramount was bleeding money and they needed money, so they sold the rights to Yellowstone to NBC to put it on Peacock, which ended up backfiring.
Micah Tomasella: But anyways, if it wasn’t, if it wasn’t for the, I want you to keep going, but I think for me, just to jump in, I, I think if it [00:27:00] wasn’t for kind of the Saudi investment. And then maybe even like Trump’s relationship with Ellison. Like you take those two things out. This is an absolute no brainer. It should be Paramount Skydance, because it’s a, it’s, it’s a much smaller antitrust issue.
There’s still plenty of players in the game. The rich don’t get richer in that sense because of what Paramount standing is. Paramount acquires Warner Bros. And then they’re just kind of. Up there with everybody else. So there’s still good competition and it’s better for movie theaters. So if it wasn’t for those two issues, I just named, it seems like an easy choice that we would want Paramount to be the one to acquire.
Warner Bros. It does seem that way. I,
Conner Jones: yeah, the, the Saudi money is what freaks everybody out because Yeah. It seems like they’re just trying to get some serious influence over the American population. They’re already buying up sports leagues live golf. Yeah. I’m not cool with that. They’re trying to buy up UFC and all that, and so they’re really trying to influence America in a weird way.
Yeah, and so there is some, there is some. Concerns there for sure. And I think the government will definitely wanna take a look at that. But yeah, the ellisons are, are [00:28:00] buds with Trump, big time donors to Trump. And so we’ll just see what happens there. Yeah. Micah, I, I can make a prediction as much as I want, but we won’t know by the end of this week everything could look different.
I do think this hostile bid is something straight out of a movie or TV show. We love a merger and acquisition, drama suits or succession, something like that. This is literally right outta those playbooks, right? Yeah. You know what I mean? Fun stuff. I do think it’s fun to talk through all this. We could even dream about what all the different collaborations could be of Netflix, IP, and warn Brothers ip.
If you could put Batman and Stranger Things, that’d be crazy. But, you know, we, we, we gotta tie it all back to something bigger than us and bigger than entertainment. It’s funny, the Bible doesn’t really talk about mergers and acquisitions of media companies, you know, so it’s like, how, how do we take this and, and turn it back to God?
But I think there’s several ways we can do that. I, I, I just wanna point out that these deals are about three primary things. Attention, influence, and money. Yeah. And these companies work very hard to keep our eyes glued to the, to our [00:29:00] screens and specifically on their platforms. And in that they influence the way that we think and the way that we approach their shows.
And especially if CNN’s involved approach the way we digest our news. All of that. And then. It’s all really to improve their bottom line. So that’s kind of the big thing here. But they’re not alone. It’s not just these big media companies. This happens all the time, mergers and acquisitions. It’s just not usually such a big public thing that all of us consume.
It’s when an insurance company buys another insurance company. We don’t read and think about all of that, right? It’s happens a lot. It’s all about bottom lines. It’s all about attention, influence, money, all of that. Everything on Earth is working to grab not only our attention though, Micah, it’s also working to grab our hearts.
And so we have to question where does our heart truly lie? Are we, am I, are you Micah distracted by worldly influences or is our heart fully in the hands of the Lord I, the scripture? This one’s always been good. One Peter five, eight through nine. He’s warning us, be sober. Be vigilant because [00:30:00] your adversary, the devil, walks about a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
Man, Micah, the devil is just always lurking. Yeah, he’s always around, every corner he wants to grab us. And if that’s through a media company, if that’s through a business deal, if that’s through anything that draws us away from the Lord through pride, greed, selfishness, lust gluttony, I, I don’t even know, name all the sins.
The devil’s trying to do anything he can to pull us away from God, and he can do that through a business deal. He can do that through our work. He can do that through our school, whatever it is that we’re doing each day, he can do that. And so what are we gonna do in a situation like that? James four seven tells us what to do.
He says, therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So I’m just thinking, man, with all of this, just submit to God. Imagine if these companies were submitting every, everything to God in all of these meetings. I think things might look different. It wouldn’t be so hostile in a way.
Yeah. And there would be a much better influence going on. So we can pray for situations [00:31:00] like this and for things that will impact the greater public and culture at large to submit to God. You know, and that’s what we gotta do every day too, as we go throughout our day and throughout our week.
Micah Tomasella: It’s a great reminder, brother, and I’m thinking about.
Scripture reminds us to renew our minds in Christ. And so no matter who’s influencing media as a follower of Jesus, the command is clear. We cannot let the world tell us what to do or who to be or what our goal should be. It’s founded in something much, much deeper, much richer, much more eternal, much more joy-filled much more purpose-driven.
Then what Netflix or Warner Bros or Paramount can provide. And we just have to remind ourselves of that. You know, you ask the question you know, am I allowing myself to be distracted? Am I allowing other things to influence me that are of this world? Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and I’m not sure if any of us, maybe unless you’re like Amish, you know, I’m not really sure if any of us can sit there and say.[00:32:00]
We’re not influenced by media and technology and the ways of this world, but it’s always a good reminder to take a step back, say a quick breath prayer. Jesus, I’m yours. I put you on the throne of my heart today. Guard my, my eyes, my ears, my mind, everything. I wanna be more like you. Jesus. Help me to look to you.
Quick prayer, easy prayer. Say it throughout the day and hopefully that helps. Yeah, good stuff, Connor.
Conner Jones: Yeah. Thanks. Fun, fun conversation. Lot to see. Yep. And just give it all up to the Lord. Everything you do this week y’all. Okay, Michael, let’s jump into our quick mailbag situation. As always, you guys can email us, you can dm us on Instagram, email us at culture [email protected] or find us on Instagram at Culture Brief Podcast.
Yeah, we did wanna hit on our Spotify wraps real fast. First off, Micah, did you watch your own Spotify wrapped? And what age did you get as your your music listenership age? Dude, it was old. It was like, I think it was 67 or
Micah Tomasella: something. That’s nothing compared to me. I was 78. Yeah. I mean, I could have been 77 too.
It [00:33:00] was, it ended with a seven and it was, you know, six, seven. You were 67. Oh, oh. I don’t, I don’t know. Listen, listen to me though. Okay. I definitely had no issue qualifying for a a RP, you know, like there was, it was up there for sure.
Conner Jones: Yeah, I was trying to figure out how I ended up so old. I, I listened to music of all ranges, but I, you know, in the summer I have really thrown into these boys.
Listen to. Yeah,
Micah Tomasella: if you listen to yeah, you catch me on
Conner Jones: EDM movie soundtracks a lot of times, but also country music, all of it. I don’t know. I also, a lot of jazz. I, I imagine I was listening to a lot of like 1940s and fifties
Micah Tomasella: jazz music. Man. Listen though, I, and I’m not sure why it had that either, man, I, the Wiggles was a top artist for me.
Conner Jones: It’s your daughters, bro.
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, because of my kids. I mean, you know, my top songs, I didn’t even share my Spotify rap. My kids have ruined my Spotify rap for me because, I mean, every time we’re in the vehicle, you know what I mean? Like they’re, they’re asking for the wiggles, they’re asking to listen to, to spidey or super simple songs or, you [00:34:00] know, whatever.
And I, I only have so much willpower guys, so oftentimes we’re cruising down the street listening to whatever it is they wanna listen to. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s amazing.
Conner Jones: All that to say, we as a podcast got to see the back end of our Spotify wrapped and we just wanna say thank you guys.
You guys are amazing listeners and we’re so grateful for the community that is growing here. Yeah, we got an incredible just feedback. We had a bunch of y’all send us images and messages of being on your top five. Some of y’all top two, some of you guys that are crazy. Top one podcast on Spotify, which is insane.
Thank you for listening.
Micah Tomasella: 0.05% of fans I got sent one of those. Goodness gracious.
Conner Jones: Incredible stuff. Also wanted to note, we thought this was just so cool. Top five countries on our Spotify rap would be of course the United States and then Canada. We’ve always loved our Canadian listeners, but also Nigeria, the UK and South Africa, and so just getting to talk to several of y’all across the world is so fun.
Micah Tomasella: Those were our top five countries of most listens. So obviously us and then Canada makes sense. But then Nigeria number three, [00:35:00] I mean UN unbelievable, uk, South Africa. I mean, we’re just so thankful for that. We were considered a 2025 instant hit show, meaning that our debut season was more popular than 96% of all shows that started in 2025.
We do not boast in our, in our own talent here. We’re a part of an awesome ministry in Denson Forum that seeks to speak truth to culture and to encourage and, and, and equip believers. So we’re so grateful to be a part of that. But also we just. Really feel like God’s working in and through us, giving us the words to say, giving us sermon on what to cover.
And Connor and I have a very close friendship and we have for many years. And so we get to just have conversations like we normally would. And the fact that so many of you like to listen in on that, we’re just really grateful.
Conner Jones: Yeah. And, and also shout out to you guys ’cause we had more than more shares than 95% of other shows.
So that’s you guys doing that sharing and letting other people, 95% know of
Micah Tomasella: all other podcasts on on Spotify. Our show was shared more than 95% of all we in the top five episode. Do you think we beat
Conner Jones: out [00:36:00] Joe Rogan in that sense? Did we get more shares? For sure.
Micah Tomasella: You don’t need to share his show anymore.
Everyone listens. You don’t even have to share it.
Conner Jones: That’s true. Do people share those episodes? I say that one of our friends sent us an episode last week of Joe Rogan, and I was about to say, it had been
Micah Tomasella: a while since somebody has sent me, because it’s just an assumption now oh. You listen to that Rogan episode, you know?
Yeah.
Conner Jones: Or some of the other really big shows like that too. Anyways, thank you guys. Y’all are amazing and we are so grateful that you join us every single week. Yeah, thank you. Okay, Michael, let’s jump in a check in real fast. We’ve got several things going on across the world and here in America. First off, just wanna mention Thailand and Cambodia.
This is not a conflict that gets a ton of attention, but Trump did claim to end the conflict. They were having some border clashes earlier this year. He led through a peace deal. They signed a peace deal when he was in Southeast Asia earlier this year, actually really two months ago. He signed a peace deal with the presidents of Thailand and Cambodia.
Those scrimmages have launched back up. There are already dozens of people who have been killed. Soldiers are fighting and shooting fire across the border. F sixteens [00:37:00] are making strikes over there. We have sold Thailand F sixteens in the past, so they’ve got those, they’re doing air strikes on positions.
It’s starting. I’ve seen some clips. It kind of looks like the Ukraine war. Just this modern warfare going on. Trenches and across rivers and all that, and it’s not pretty. So we just need to pray for that situation to calm back down and for peace to actually be had in that area
Micah Tomasella: of the world. Yep.
And then next the farmers are getting a bailout. So the US government under Donald Trump has announced a $12 billion aid package from American farmers. This is a big ba bailout. About 11 billion will go to row crop producers and 1 billion to specialty crop growers. The money will come from tariff revenue specifically, and is meant to offset losses from rising input costs and disrupted export markets caused by.
Tariffs and caused by China bought all their soybeans from Argentina this year, not America. And that really hurt farmers. But China did that because we ramped up the trade war on them. But then China’s been taken care of, you know, taken advantage of, of, of us for many, many, many years. You know, there’s two sides of every story.
So [00:38:00] payments are expected to start February of 2026. Connor, I, it’s just been a while since I’ve seen the go, like a government bailout of this size in the news,
Conner Jones: it’s big. Yeah. See, it’s, it’s big. It’s not as big as like when they bailed out the automakers back in 2008. No, of course. But it’s, but it’s just, I, I haven’t heard
Micah Tomasella: like government bail out in a while like this, you know, since the automaker thing through COVID and stuff like that.
But you know, and then one more story that, you know, we’ve been talking about what’s going on with. The strikes on drug boats in the Caribbean, and then what’s going on in Venezuela. Lemme just give a quick update on that. The US has been striking boats that says they’re tied to Venezuelan drug trafficking, hitting more than 20 vessels and drawing criticism specifically after a double tap strike that killed survivors in the water in September.
So lawmakers are pushing for full video release while the administration maintains the actions are legal. Maduro the leader the, the, the dictator. Venezuela is under growing pressure, but says he will not go into exile. He confirmed a recent call with Trump where he asked for amnesty and sanctions relief in exchange for stepping down, but the US did [00:39:00] not agree to those terms.
He continues to call the strikes and military buildup and active aggression and the tensions are remaining high. I really just kind of hope Maduro gives up because, you know, no one wants boots on the ground war right now.
Conner Jones: True. Trump did say in an interview yesterday with Politico. He kind of reemphasized that.
He said Maduro’s days are numbered, so whatever that means. I don’t know if that means numbered as leader or numbered as in life. Trump’s not backing away from that statement though, and he’s really just trying to put that pressure.
Micah Tomasella: No, and he’s been on this, I mean, on the campaign trail, he was talking about this, you know, just this, this, you know, the, the influx of hard drugs, specifically fentanyl from countries like this. Like he’s. He’s taken a really hard line on it and I, you know, I just don’t think anybody’s gonna really be able to change his mind. Yeah. Okay. What about Tune in Connor?
Conner Jones: Yeah, we got several things.
Mostly football, really just college football related this week. Kind of a slow, yeah. That’s actually the only thing
Micah Tomasella: we have for two now. Kind
Conner Jones: of a slow we, we’ve always got NFL football and all that, but wanna point out Christmas
Micah Tomasella: is coming up.
Conner Jones: Christmas is yeah, but we’re like two weeks out and Yeah.
Know the slate of football between Christmas and New Year’s, man. It doesn’t get better than that, right? That’s right. [00:40:00] But until then, we will rely on. Two things. One, the Army, Navy game. Big game every year. Massive rivalry. Always draws a lot of attention. That is the Saturday at 3:00 PM Eastern on Kes Ware, CBS and Paramount Plus the Ellisons will be broadcasting that and then we’ve also got the college football playoff.
It is set, it cost a lot of drama. This past week maybe you’ve seen that Notre Dame was left out and they are unhappy about that and they’re making their claim. Very loud and proud that they should have been in there. They’re not even gonna play in a bowl game. They dropped outta the bowl game.
Micah Tomasella: They’re being annoying.
Conner Jones: But Micah, I know the Texas Longhorns also did not make it in BYU did not make it in. So a lot of big schools that you would’ve thought at the beginning of the season would be in this playoff are out. But guess who’s number one of all places? Indiana University and you might be think thinking Beat Ohio.
Isn’t that a basketball school? Yeah, you would be correct in that. But now they’re apparently a football school, so here we go. Let’s see if they can win this whole thing. I’m just,
Micah Tomasella: yeah, I’m just not used to Indiana being good at football. Like when they beat Ohio State this past weekend, I was like, what am I [00:41:00] seeing?
I mean, because they are in division one, like FBS football, they’re like the losing UST program. Historically, and then this year they finally came out of it. Like it’s, it’s unbelievable. They’ve always been bad and so they’re kind of
Conner Jones: It’s kind of like crazy scrappy Netflix in 2010 being told by Warner Brothers, you’re not a threat.
And here they are. They’re coming and taking, they ate Ohio State’s lunch, just like That’s right. You know, Netflix coming to get Warner Brothers. It’s all the David and Goliath situation always. Micah, these stories are fun, right?
Micah Tomasella: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That’s
Conner Jones: all we got guys in the tune in Micah. Anything else to add this week?
Micah Tomasella: No, no Christmas is coming up. We’re so thankful to you guys. Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief, a Denon Forum podcast. All the articles and videos mentioned will be linked in the show notes. And if you enjoy today’s episode, please please subscribe, rate, review the show, and share the show with a friend.
You guys have been faithfully doing that. Keep it up and we’ll see you next Thursday.
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