Netflix Buying Warner Bros: Will this kill Creativity here in The Beautiful North®?

 Netflix's move for Warner Bros isn't just business - it's a war for carriage.

Discover why "The Beautiful North®" is our best defence against creative monopoly.

Let’s not mess about. The rumours of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros aren't just industry gossip to chat about over a lukewarm coffee. This is a seismic shift. We are watching the potential consolidation of one of the last major studios into the streaming giant's maw.

And if you’re sitting there thinking, "Well, as long as I get my next season of Stranger Things, who cares?" -you need to wake up.

This isn't about movies. It's about carriage.

It’s about who holds the keys to the gate, who controls what you see, and ultimately, who decides whose stories get told. And right now, that control is shrinking into fewer and fewer hands. Safe marketing? That’s dead. But safe creation? That’s what we’re staring down the barrel of right now.

Carriage: The Boring Word That Rules Your Life

Let’s strip away the corporate fluff. Carriage is just a fancy term for how stuff - books, films, songs - gets from the person who made it to the person who wants it. It is the pipe. The road. The shelf.

History is littered with people fighting over carriage.

• Bookstores used to be open ground. If you printed a book, you had a shot at getting it on a shelf. It wasn’t perfect, but the door was unlocked.

• Radio was different. There was a bottleneck. Record labels knew that if they controlled the DJs, they controlled the hits. That’s why "payola" - bribing stations to play songs - became a dirty word. But it showed us the power of the pipe.

• 1930s Hollywood was the Wild West of carriage. Studios owned the cinemas. They forced independent theatres to take blocks of films - good, bad, or ugly - just to get the one hit everyone wanted to see. They owned the production and the distribution.

See the pattern? Power doesn't come from making the best thing. Power comes from owning the only road to the customer.

The Internet's Broken Promise

When the internet showed up, we all thought, "Brilliant! The gatekeepers are dead!"

It was supposed to be the great leveller. A century of strangleholds broken. You could put your song, your book, or your weird documentary about badger watching up online, and if it was good, people would find it.

We were naïve.

Google turned up and said, "Sure, the road is open... but if you want anyone to actually find your shop, you’d best pay us for a map." Thinly veiled payola.

Amazon started as the "Everything Store," treating every book equally. Now? It’s an ad platform masquerading as a shop. If you’ve noticed the shopping experience has gone to the dogs, it’s because they’re burying the organic stuff in favour of whoever pays to play. They took efficient carriage and sold it to the highest bidder.

Netflix: The New Studio System?

And now, we look at Netflix.

Hollywood is absolutely petrified, and they should be. If Netflix integrates further into production - swallowing a library as massive as Warner Bros - we aren't just looking at a big company getting bigger. We are looking at a monopoly on carriage.

It doesn’t matter if it’s easy to start a studio today. You can film a masterpiece on your iPhone. But if there is only one streaming platform that matters, and one company decides what gets carriage, your masterpiece is screaming into the void.

If Netflix controls the pipe, they control the culture. They decide what is "safe," what is "marketable," and what fits the algorithm. And let me tell you, algorithms don’t like "Different." They like "Same, but slightly better."

That is the death of creativity.

The Beautiful North®: Our Line in the Sand

So, is it all doom and gloom? Are we destined for a beige future of algorithm-approved content?

Not if the North has anything to say about it.

While the giants in California are trying to build walls, we are building bridges right here in the UK. Specifically, in The Beautiful North ®.

Look at North East Screen. Look at the massive ambition behind Crown Works Studios in Sunderland. This isn’t just about bringing jobs to the region; it’s about decentralising the power of creation.

By building world-class production facilities outside of the M25 bubble - and certainly outside of the Hollywood bubble—we are creating a new centre of gravity. Crown Works isn’t just a studio; it’s a statement. It says, "We don’t need your permission to be brilliant."

The North East has always been a place of grit, innovation, and storytelling. We don’t do "safe." We do real. We do bold.

These institutions play a critical role in checking the threat of centralised carriage. They provide the infrastructure for independent voices to create high-level content without begging the monopolies for scraps. If we own the means of production, we have a fighting chance of demanding fair carriage.

A Controversial Thought (Because I Can’t Help Myself)

Now, let’s ruffle some feathers.

I hate monopolies. I hate beige. I hate BS. I hate "safe."

But... what if Netflix wins? What if they buy Warner Bros, and Paramount, and everyone else?

Here’s the thing: Netflix might actually be forced to save us.

If they become the only game in town, the regulators (and the sheer volume of content needed to keep us subscribed) might force their hand. The solution - one that would actually make them more money - is to stop trying to be a studio and start acting like a true platform.

Imagine a Netflix that operates like YouTube.

Open carriage.

You produce a film? You put it on Netflix. If people watch it, you get paid. If they don’t, you don’t. No gatekeepers in suits deciding if your idea "travels well." Just the audience and the creator.

Creators don’t mind if there’s only one place to be seen, as long as the door is open. We don't need a thousand streaming services; we just need fair access to the audience.

So maybe, just maybe, the total dominance of Netflix forces a reset. It forces them to abandon the "Studio" model of picking winners and adopt the "Platform" model of letting the winners pick themselves.

What This Means for You

Whether you’re making a documentary, writing a LinkedIn post, or building a brand, you need to think about carriage.

Attention is the most precious resource we have. When it is centrally controlled, culture stagnates. When it is open, culture thrives.

Don’t wait for permission. Support the independent voices. Look to places like the North East where they are building the future with their bare hands.

And remember: Safe is the riskiest move you can make.

Different, Not Better.

Open carriage is the lifeblood of British creativity - without it, the UK’s boldest voices get boxed out, and sameness wins. Let’s tear down the gates and put real power back in the hands of our creators.

The old models are shot. We don’t need another quick fix from the States - we need the gates torn down so UK creators run wild, not wait in line.

Blending in is easy here, But safe is the quickest way British creativity gets buried.

Stand apart -keep the UK weird, bold, and impossible to ignore.

"Break the gates.

Roar loud.

North dreams, untamed and vivid-

We build, not behold."

What’s your take? Are we just meant to sit back and watch as global giants lock down British creativity, or should platforms like Netflix be made to open up and give UK voices a real shot? Let’s have it out in the comments!

If you aren't doing it differently, you're just waiting to be cancelled.

Blending in is safe,But safe is the slowest death.Dare to stand apart.

Ready to stop playing by their rules?

It’s worth a chat.

John (Nick) Atkinson, The CreActivist Marketer who is Doing it Differently!

john@doingitdifferently.com

The Beautiful North ®. is a registered trademark of TTM Management.