A merger of Netflix and HBO is such a face-smackingly obvious win/win I can't imagine why it hasn't happened already.
Netflix's service, reach, user data mining, and tech powering a hybrid content catalog of Netflix originals and HBOs library, which becomes a freebie/cheapie with an HBO cable subscription.
As it stands both companies are trying to become one another, with mixed results, and Disney is gonna try hard to eat both their lunches once Disneys Streaming Platform to Rule Them All is live...
Because HBO isn't independently held; its owned by Time Warner.
And just keep pulling on that sweater thread: combining the subscriber platform of Netflix, the content & cable capabilities of HBO and their boxing connections, along with sweetheart win/win deals for streaming as much of Time Warners catalog as makes sense... That's exactly the kind of slightly-adult-oriented position I'd want to go head-to-head with Disney/ABC/Pixar/Lucasarts/ESPN in the forthcoming streaming war. Plus bigger budgets, which is a factor since Netflix is a verifiable money printing machine.
It is the second meaning which the author seems to imply and that I'm using here.
For example, the Emmy's (and the Hollywood Reporter, for example) consider NBC, ABC, HBO, Netflix, and Amazon to all be networks on equal footing.
The trade papers may use ‘network’ interchangeably in Ye Grand Tradition of old school Deadline slang for TV, but nobody in the industry would ever confuse networks (read: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) with cable/premium/streaming channels.
To me they are all channels. Just some don't allow binge watching or time-shifting well and others do.
So not a vast difference.
One of the questions becomes what does the new bundle look like? (or the a la carte package.) Because there are pretty clearly a limited number of monthly subscriptions that most consumers are willing to pay for especially if they're in the >$10 range.
NBC and HBO are both networks. And so is Netflix. And Showtime, and AMC.
The main difference is that Netflix broadcasts all over the world using the Internet, while NBC and HBO have limited reach outside of the US using cable and/or OTA signals (and over the Internet too!).
House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, Gray's Anatomy. These are all just original shows of their respective networks.
In Hollywood an Original Show just means that it was shown exclusively in one place first.