Now Streaming: Paramount commences tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery

“Now Streaming” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories surrounding the biggest content streamers.

PLAYING THIS WEEKEND: This week’s most notable new streaming content is Netflix (NFLX) mystery film “Wake Up Dead Man,” another installment in the “Knives Out” film series. The movie released in select theaters on November 26 but starting streaming on Netflix on December 12. Meanwhile, Disney+ (DIS) subscribers can catch the new season of fantasy television series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” based on the book series of the same name.

PARAMOUNT/WARNER BROS.: Following last week’s announcement that Netflix would acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), including its film and television studios, HBO Max, and HBO from Warner Bros. Discovery in a cash and stock transaction valued at $27.75 per WBD share, Paramount Skydance (PSKY) announced on Monday that it has commenced an all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery for $30.00 per share in cash. Paramount’s proposed transaction is for the entirety of WBD, including the Global Networks segment. Of note, Paramount said the tender offer will be open for 20 business days. Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed receipt of the unsolicited tender offer, saying it intends to advise investors of the board’s recommendation within 10 business days.

Reporting on the deal, the New York Post’s Charles Gasparino said that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is open to a higher bid from Paramount Skydance. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reported that Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle (ORCL) and father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, had called President Donald Trump to argue that the Netflix agreement would hurt competition. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, President Trump told reporters from the White House that he thinks any Warner Bros. Discovery sale should include CNN. The Fly notes that Netflix’s offer to acquire Warner Bros. has CNN being put into a separate company. Paramount Skydance’s bid, which it took directly to shareholders, includes buying all of Warner Bros. Discovery.

DISNEY/OPENAI: Disney and Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI have reached an agreement for Disney to become the “first major content licensing partner” on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform, the companies announced. As part of this new, three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, including costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments, Disney said. In addition, ChatGPT Images will be able to turn a few words by the user into fully generated images in seconds, drawing from the same intellectual property. The agreement does not include any talent likenesses or voices.

Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees. As part of the agreement, Disney will make a $1B equity investment in OpenAI, and receive warrants to purchase additional equity.

ROKU PRICE TARGET: On Friday, JPMorgan raised the firm’s price target on Roku (ROKU) to $125 from $115 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm adjusted ratings and targets in the small- and mid-cap internet and video games group as part of its 2026 outlook. It named Roku its top pick for next year. JPMorgan expects Roku’s monetization initiatives to “become more apparent in the coming quarters. The company’s Platform revenue growth is likely to accelerate in 2026, the analyst told investors in a research note.

STOCK PLAYS: Other publicly traded companies in the space include Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), FuboTV (FUBO), Comcast (CMCSA), Fox (FOXA), and AMC Networks (AMCX).