HBO Hates Netflix (And You Should Too)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I first saw the story over at TechCrunch: Time Warner's (TWX) Home Box Office signed a deal with Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast (CMCSA) , to keep the latter's films on the former's air through 2022.

Simply put, if you want access to roughly half of Hollywood's top releases -- after they leave the theater -- you'll need to subscribe to HBO through a cable or satellite company unless, someday, Time Warner offers HBO GO a la carte.

There's no question -- HBO and TWX execs were trading high-fives after this deal. While Netflix (NFLX) is more of a pest -- a veritable ankle-biter -- than a true threat, I know they enjoy knocking Reed Hastings around.

The comments that followed TechCrunch's story show a misunderstanding of the media business -- "old" and "new" -- as well as a sense of entitlement enabled, in part, by the illusion that Netflix operates from a position of strength.

The overarching reaction: Consumers lose. And, ultimately, because they're not "listening" to "what consumers want," HBO, Universal and others like them will lose. Wrong. That's where the misunderstanding and self-entitlement comes in.

Despite the cat calls, Time Warner, led by Jeff Bewkes, is not the dinosaur it's made out to be. They're just smart business people who control a considerable amount of premium content.