Netflix vows to keep Ted Lasso on Apple TV if it buys Warner

It seems like there's a new twist in the Warner Bros Discovery sale each day, with Paramount Skydance now having launched a hostile takeover. It was only 48 hours ago that it was being widely reported Netflix was to be the new owner of most of its operations.

Then of course, the US president piped up saying he wants to get involved, too – warning that a sale to Netflix would give the streaming service too big an advantage.

So it's all really up in the air still, with a likely resolution some way off. One thing we have learned though is that if Netflix does end up being the steward of Warner Bros' studios and streaming properties, it will continue to supply rivals with programming.

According to Deadline, in the result of a successful acquisition, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos has vowed to keep Warner-made shows like Ted Lasso and Shrinking on their respective services – in this case, Apple TV.

"[Warner] produces and licenses content to third parties. We were never in that business. We are now," he is reported to have said during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

"Now in this transaction we own that business, and Channing [Dungey] and that group do a phenomenal job. We want them to continue to do that phenomenal job."

Channing Dungey is the current chairman and CEO of the Warner Television Group.

But this is all dependent on Netflix having its purchase ratified both by shareholders and US regulators. Paramount has really thrown a spanner in the works, by offering even more money to buy the entirety of Warner Bros Discovery.

It values the company at $108.4bn (£81.22bn), while Netflix plans to pay $82.7bn for the studios and streaming networks alone. In the latter case, ancillary companies will be spun off into separate properties.

It seems like the battle has only just begun.