Barry Diller is calling on the old Hollywood studios to end the writers’ and actors’ strike or it will be “catastrophic” for the industry.
The media mogul said on the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast that the strikes would only strengthen streaming giant Netflix during a turbulent time for legacy media.
“The strike does one thing and one thing only: it strengthens Netflix and weakens the others,” said Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia who once held top positions at Fox, Paramount and ABC Entertainment.
He also advised studios to exclude Netflix and other streamers from negotiations with unions.
“They should definitely walk out of the room with their deepest, fiercest and almost final enemy, Netflix and probably Apple and Amazon,” he said, pointing to their different business models. He said the legacy studios, actors and writers should be “natural allies” given their centuries-long collaboration.
The remarks echo comments Diller made on CBS’ “Face the Nation” earlier this summer, in which he said the strikes could trigger a domino effect that could bring about “the absolute collapse of an entire industry.”
Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike for more than 100 days, while the actors’ union joined the picket lines in July, halting production of television shows and films.
In recent weeks, the Alliance of Film and Television Producers released its latest contract proposal for writers. It quickly became clear that conversations between the studios and writers remained heated.
“There was a recent attempt to get it right with the WGA that I think failed in the last few days,” Diller said on the Swisher podcast, recorded in late August. He added that it looked “bleak” that the strike could end in September.
Representatives for SAG, WGA, AMPTP and Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recent discussions with the writers’ union included a meeting with top media executives, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, NBCUniversal film chief Donna Langley, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
In recent earnings calls, Netflix and its media peers have said they hope to quickly reach a resolution with the writers and actors.
Diller said for the “old majors” like Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Paramount Global, if the strikes continue through the end of the year, the lack of new content on their streaming services through the spring or summer of 2024 will lead to subscriber cancellations and revenue losses.
“If they have to prepare to produce more programming to win back subscribers, they won’t have the revenue base to produce,” Diller told Swisher. “So this is kind of disastrous.”
He goes on to call Netflix “an evil genius” that was able to dominate established media outlets and leave them struggling to make profits from their streaming businesses.
As media companies continue to focus on making streaming a profitable business, Diller said these companies should refocus on their broadcast and pay-TV networks. Even though traditional pay-TV packages are being phased out at an ever-increasing pace, the business remains profitable.
Diller said the legacy media should take some of their “shows and creativity” and rebuild our networks.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.