13 Jan Netflix Wanted to Reinvent Live TV. It Hasn’t Been Easy. [Wall Street Journal]
By Isabelle Bousquette
January 13, 2026| As Netflix cements its role as an entertainment behemoth, including with a recent bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, it is simultaneously tackling the last bastion where traditional TV has an edge over streamers: sports and live events.
Reinventing a nearly 100-year-old format for the internet age has proved challenging for one of the world’s most technologically advanced companies. “I didn’t quite grasp or comprehend the complexity,” said Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vice president for nonfiction series and sports and the former TV executive who started pushing for live programming when he joined the company in 2016. “It quickly became apparent just how much of a lift that was from both a resource and an expertise and execution standpoint.”
Since March 2023, Netflix has broadcast more than 200 different live events, including a weekly World Wrestling Entertainment show, whose rights it snagged in a $5 billion deal.
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