Netflix has already won the streaming wars, media mogul Barry Diller told CNBC on Friday.
“Netflix won this a few years ago. You are the only ones with the scale and momentum to make this somewhat crazy investment in programming,” said Diller, chairman of the IAC, in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin. “You can’t compete with the dynamics, the scale, nobody will ever be able to.”
Legacy media has jumped into the streaming arena in recent years to win back customers and strengthen their businesses. Disney, Comcast, ViacomCBS and AMC Networks have jumped on board to transform their aging, television-centric businesses.
Most recently, AT&T announced a deal to combine its content unit WarnerMedia with Discovery to create a new media giant. The new media company could be valued at well over $ 100 billion, and executives said the two companies together already spend $ 20 billion a year on content, including programming for their linear networks. AT&T said Discovery CEO David Zaslav will lead the new company.
However, Diller doesn’t think the new deal will result in a company that can dwarf Netflix’s success. Still, the deal can be seen as a “great escape” for AT&T, Diller said.
“It’s the power of monopoly,” he added. “Ma Bell should have been dead and buried by now.”
Diller also informed Apple on Friday about the fees charged to companies that have applications in the iPhone maker’s app store.
“The idea that they actually justify it by saying, ‘We’re spending all this money protecting our little app store,'” said Diller. “I mean, it’s criminal. Well, it will be criminal,” said Diller.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
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