Netflix PRICE CUT ‘likely’ if Apple buys compan

Top analysts have revealed how they believe tech giant Apple buying the Netflix stream service could mean lower subscription fees for everyone.

Wall Street has been buzzing with talk of an Apple-Netflix merger in recent weeks, with Daniel Ives, Chief Strategy Officer at GBH Insights, telling us that there is "a 30 to 35% chance" the deal could go ahead.

He believes that "time is right" for what what he says would be a smart move, giving Netflix a leg-up in the "content arms race" against Disney and Amazon.

But while big corporate mergers can often mean consumers lose out thanks to reduced competition, an Apple-Netflix buyout could boost your bank balance.

Ives says he believes that "if anything, pricing goes down" with Apple's potential Netflix acquisition.

According to Ives, Apple and Netflix could combine their content libraries and "lower pricing as a whole" to entice new customers. He says this joint streaming service would be a "golden goose" for Apple.

The Sun also spoke to Imran Choudhary, Technology Director at research firm GfK, who echoed Ives' prediction: "Consumers aren't likely to see prices go up – if anything, they're likely to see greater value."

Choudhary puts this down to Apple's massive cash reserves, which were reported to total around $250 billion in May last year.

He says that Apple could "easily afford the annual investments" needed to acquire and produce new content with Netflix.

A price cut would be a welcome change for Netflix users in the UK, who only last year had to deal with a penny-pinching price hike.

In 2017, Netflix boosted the cost of an annual subscription to £7.99 per month, increasing the total payment by £6 per year.

And the premium plan rose from £8.99 to £9.99 every month, tacking on an additional £12 to customers' bills.

Not everyone is convinced by the Apple-Netflix merger rumours, however. Nigel Walley, of media consultancy Decipher, tells us that Apple probably won't purchase the popular streaming service.

Rumours of a buy-out began when the US changed its rules so that companies bringing off-shore funds back onto US soil earn a tax break.

This means if Apple was to "repatriate" its $250 billion haul, it would pay a lower tax rate than it had previously.

But Walley says that because Netflix is "ultimately loss making" due to high production costs, Apple investors won't be interested.

"Netflix has a huge rights bill, and a content acquisition budget that will make Apple investors nervous," Walley explains.

The media expert believes that Disney and Amazon are also bad tips for a Netflix buy, admitting that "Google are the most likely" because they want to offer more content to users.

Neither Netflix or Amazon have publicly commented on merger prospects.