Netflix acquires Warner Bros. What will happen now and where will we watch the World Cup?

The announcement of Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros and all its channels and catalog has caused a real earthquake in the audiovisual world due to its tremendous reach. So much so that even the world of cycling may be affected in several of its modalities, as Eurosport and HBO-Max are part of the Warner Bros ecosystem. Will it be necessary to subscribe to Netflix to watch cycling? Only time will tell.

Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros raises concerns among cycling fans

Those of you who regularly read our race previews will be used to seeing how it is systematically repeated, when talking about where to follow a particular event, that the option to watch the broadcast always goes through the Eurosport channel and the HBO-Max platform where it has been integrated.

These channels, prior to last season, after the major reform carried out by the UCI of the MTB World Cup, also involved the sale of broadcasting rights to Warner Bros, which in turn owns the HBO-Max platform and, by extension, Eurosport, channels where this modality is broadcast that until then could be followed for free through Red Bull-TV.

RECOMENDADO

Van der Poel's team is about to change

Spain consolidates the roller as part of training: absolute record on Zwift

Emirates is building a mountain that could benefit Pogacar in the World Championship

The Bahrain Victorious will ride with Bianchi in 2026

A cyclist from Decathlon CMA-CGM is fined €200 for training with headphones in Alicante

Paul Seixas gets ahead of everyone and announces the start of his 2026 season

That is why the announcement by Netflix of the acquisition of all of Warner Bros in a staggering operation of 83 billion dollars has also generated concern among cycling fans regarding what will happen to HBO Max and Eurosport and how cycling will be followed starting next year.

In the current landscape, Eurosport is integrated into the HBO-Max platform. However, it also maintains its historical independence, and its Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2 channels are usually found in the basic offering of almost all internet television providers. Channels where it is possible to follow most of the season for both road cycling, mountain biking, and cyclocross, except for certain events that, due to lack of space in the schedule coinciding with other sporting events, are broadcast exclusively through the HBO-Max platform.

Currently, the subscription to HBO-Max, with the sports package that includes, in addition to Eurosport, the DAZN channels with which to follow Formula 1 or La Liga, amounts to €44.99 per month.

For now, it is unknown what Netflix's intentions are regarding HBO Max and Eurosport after the acquisition of Warner Bros. Whether it will allow Eurosport to remain present on other television operators, whether it will limit it solely to the platform, or whether there will be an effective merger of Netflix and HBO-Max. This uncertainty keeps cycling fans on edge since the news of the purchase broke and could mean that starting next year, there would be no choice but to pay to follow cycling, except for the few events for which Televisión Española still holds broadcasting rights, such as the Tour de France, La Vuelta a España, World Cycling Championship, or, more recently, the Cyclocross World Cup.

In any case, the acquisition of Warner Bros by Netflix is still pending approval from the economic authorities in the United States, which, at first, have shown reluctance due to the enormous audiovisual giant that would arise from the merger of these two companies and which could contravene the antitrust laws in that country.