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Longtime media power broker Barry Diller called on media companies to “get out of the room” with the tech giants and instead work out a separate solution to the writers and actors strikes.
“They should definitely leave the room with their fiercest and almost final enemy, Netflix, and probably Apple and Amazon as well,” Diller said on the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast. “Because Netflix is in a business and they are the rulers of the business they are in. The other two, Apple and Amazon Prime, operate in completely different companies that have no business model related to the production of films and television.”
The former head of Fox, Paramount and Universal, who has focused more on InterActive Corp. over the past 20-plus years. and other digital companies, called from his yacht, Swisher said in an introduction to the chat. “I don’t know where he was when he was floating around and going to Venice,” she added. Most of the interview focused on topics outside of the entertainment industry, including Diller’s support of Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie and his efforts to curb technology companies’ use of artificial intelligence in publishing.
Of tech giants Apple and Amazon, Diller said: “I just don’t think they belong in the same room as the producers. I think the producers should say, “We’re on our own.” We’ll negotiate directly with you. We are your savior. Historically, we have been in business for literally a hundred years. We are your natural allies, not your enemies.’”
Diller’s comments echo the sentiment of the strike front, which Deadline reported on earlier this week. It is said that AMPTP members face internal disagreements and find common ground in discussions with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA due to their different business models and goals. The separation has made finding a way to end the work stoppage even more complex.
Diller has long suggested that Netflix has long since “won” the streaming race. In the podcast, he connects the company’s meteoric rise and the disruption of Hollywood models to the strikes.
“Netflix has tricked — I would say seduced to some degree — all of these companies into turning to streaming to lose huge amounts of money and try to build a competitive streaming service,” Diller said. “They have reduced their investment in cable because of the impact of Netflix on cable. They have de-invested in their broadcast divisions.” He then described Netflix as “the architects of a strike.” He noted that the streaming giant is “in the same room with the people it killed and who tried to get out of it in some way.” The strike does one thing, and one thing only: end up the strike settled. What does it do? It strengthens Netflix and weakens the others. What kind of genius do you have to be to be able to do this in a fairly straightforward manner in the last 10 years? That’s pretty remarkable.”
Despite his recent digital focus, Diller has also been an outspoken supporter of broadcast television and returned to the topic in the podcast. Media companies caught up in guild warfare and trying to navigate an extremely difficult operating climate “should reorient themselves and say, ‘We all own a great television network that is fully distributed in every home in the United States,'” he said . “Let’s not treat it like a splinter from yesterday. Let’s compete. Let’s take some of our shows with us.’ Look, it’s a hits business at the end of the day. Let’s take some of our shows and our creativity and rebuild our networks. It’s there for the taking. Let’s take everything else we do and invigorate it with a capital allocation that suits us.”