While some on Wall Street and in Hollywood believe that Netflix has won the streaming wars, FX boss John Landgraf begs to differ.
“I have always worried about Netflix’s appetite … I think you don’t want one-dimensional ecosystems. We want an ecosystem that has some form of competition and balance,” the executive told reporters during the 2024 Winter Television Critics Association press tour on Friday. “I would say [the streaming wars are] far from over and I’m really, really bullish on the streaming efforts across the company.”
Landgraf argued that every industry functions better when a single entity is not dominating the market, noting that a lack of competition lowers quality over time.
“Competition creates quality, that’s called capitalism,” he added. “Non- competitive environments are not good capitalistic environments and they’re not good environments for creativity. So all I can say is I hope the future industry is one in which anybody sitting in this chair sweats a lot, has to work really, really hard to try to be competitive. It’s not good idea for any company to end up with a guaranteed win.”
Landgraf’s comments come as companies like Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney are increasingly licensing titles to Netflix as they look to turn their streaming businesses profitable.
In November, Iger noted that while Disney would continue to license content to Netflix, it does not plan to license any of its “core brands” to the streaming behemoth, such as Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.
Disney, whose streaming business narrowed its operating losses by 79% year over year to $216 million in its first quarter of 2024, expects the segment to turn profitable by the end of fiscal year 2024.
