Forget Warner Bros, the real war zone between Netflix and Paramount this weekend is live spectacle sports.
Originally locked in for tonight from Taiwan, the Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters-run streamer’s Skyscraper Live was already set to steal some of the thunder of the UFC‘s much-promoted debut on Paramount+. However, with bad weather forcing Netflix at the 11th hour on Friday night to delay Alex Honnold’s climb of the towering Taipei 101 for a day, the Free Solo star’s potentially death defying ascend is now getting right up in Dana White and David Ellison‘s faces.
Scheduled now to start at 5 pm PT on January 24, Honnold’s attempt to get to the top of what was once the world’s tallest building will occur online at the same time as the preliminary bouts and more in the jam-packed UFC 324 are going on in the Octagon in Las Vegas.
Hooking on a 10-second delay from Taipei in the case something goes wrong, Netflix has allocated two-hours for Honnold’s much-hyped and not entirely risk free climb. By that tight timeline, if it gets that far, the final hour of Honnold’s effort in the 6 pm PT period will be up against a lot of UFC 324’s Main Card.
Which, means if you thought Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett’s interim title bout on Paramount+ was as bloody and dramatic as it was going to get on Saturday night, you might want to think again. For one thing, with UFC going to 9 pm PT and Skyscraper Live going to 7 pm PT or so, it puts extreme sports fans and voyeurs in a bit of pickle, or certainly in need of a split streaming screen.
Neither Netflix nor Paramount responded to Deadline’s request Friday to remark on the match-up. However, let’s be honest, the whole thing also, because we’re all grown ups here who love a good brawl, adds another level to the multi-billon dollar battle between Netflix and Paramount to be the new owners of Warner Bros.
Right now, having been repeatedly rope-a-doped by Sarandos and Peters, Ellison and crew are swinging wildly with a $108 billion hostile takeover bid to overcome the tripled down decision of David Zaslav and the WBD board to accept Netflix’s $83 billion now all-cash offer for the company’s studios, HBO and streamers.
Getty
A clearly frustrated Paramount has cried foul, launched legal action and leaned in even more on the much-touted insistence that they are the only ones who be able to pull off timely regulatory approval from their pal Donald Trump and European bureaucrats. Seeking to secure all of WBD (including Trump irritants CNN), Ellison and team on Thursday also extended their shareholders deadline from January 21 to February 20.
Punching back, WBD on January 22 said: “Paramount continues to make the same offer our board has repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a superior merger agreement with Netflix. It’s also clear our shareholders agree, with more than 93% also rejecting Paramount’s inferior scheme.”
That’s gotta hurt.
Even with Joe Rogan ringside bringing color commentary in Sin City tomorrow night, that’s gotta hurt Paramount+ almost as much as losing part of the bread and circuses spotlight to Netflix and a skinny guy Spider-manning up the 11th tallest building in the world with the wind whipping around him.
BTW – the weather is looking to great tomorrow in Taipei. Here in America, there’s that giant storm that’s supposed to hit much of the East Coast and Southwest on Saturday — which means they’ll be lots of people at home watching the small screen.
