Why the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Should Scare Film and TV Lovers
12 states are suing to block the $110-billion merger that would bring two of Hollywood's biggest studios under the control of Trump allies. Here's what's at stake.
On Monday, the attorneys general of twelve states, including California and New York, filed a lawsuit to stop Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which would dramatically reshape Hollywood by uniting two of the largest film and TV conglomerates into a single behemoth.
The suit claims that the historic merger would “extinguish competition between Paramount and Warner Bros. and inflict substantial harm on movie theatres, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide.”
The merger wouldn’t just be bad for business, according to the suit; it would actually violate the law — specifically, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, legislation that was created to prevent monopolies and encourage competition in the marketplace.
It would also impact the kinds of stories that get told and the viewpoints that reach a mass audience, something that should trouble anyone who cares about movies, TV, and American popular culture (and doesn’t want to pay more for lousier entertainment choices). As the suit underscores, “The competitive health of markets where professionally created media is produced, distributed, and exhibited determines not only price, quality, and output, but the breadth of voices and viewpoints that reach the public.”
“Film and television are not commodities; they are a principal means by which Americans encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experience,” reads the suit, which cites classic movies produced by Warner Bros. and Paramount, two of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied studios. It includes Titanic, The Matrix, The Godfather, and Casablanca.
At a press conference Monday in Los Angeles, California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned that “audiences on every sofa and in every movie seat would feel the impact of this unlawful merger.” The event was staged in front of the Hollywood sign, a symbolic backdrop that spoke to just what’s at stake: the future of one of the country’s most important industries.
Concerns over the creative vitality of the industry were voiced during a town hall Tuesday with Bonta, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and leaders of the Block the Merger campaign, which has gotten more than 5000 members of the industry to sign an open letter denouncing the merger. Bonta said that movies and TV shows “are not widgets,” but are “critical stories. They expose people to different perspectives. They change minds.”
James, one of eleven Democrats joining Bonta in support of the lawsuit, spoke about how filmmaking personally affected her.
“I can recall seeing documentaries about African American attorneys, about the Civil Rights movement, that inspired me to go to law school,” she said. “To lose all of that content, to lose that history, obviously, is a direct and real consequence of this merger.”
David Borenstein, the Academy Award-winning director of Mister Nobody Against Putin, which followed the chilling events in a small-town Russian school in the wake of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, also spoke about the difficulty of getting funding for the documentary. Borenstein and his team had to go to Europe to find the money to make the film, which was deemed too risky for American distributors.
“Thankfully, we found financial support there that would take a risk on us. And so for our team, it’s really striking. I’m an American director, and we couldn’t find American financing for an Academy Award-winning film,” he said. “And this was all before the merger was on the table.”
Much of the opposition to the merger thus far has centered on the fate of CNN, which has endured numerous mergers since it was founded by Ted Turner in 1980 and is currently controlled by Warner Bros. Discovery. This concern is understandable, given the precipitous decline of CBS News under Bari Weiss, who was handpicked to run the division by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison (and who hosted a dinner “honoring the Trump White House” in April). David’s father, Larry, the centibillionaire co-founder of the technology company Oracle and a friend of Trump’s, has reportedly discussed specific personnel changes with White House officials. Trump has also repeatedly made it clear that he wants an overhaul at the cable news network (just days ago, he told Jake Tapper that “we’re trying to have CNN go on a normal path.”)
The merger would no doubt have an enormous effect on the television news landscape just a few months before the midterm elections that the president is already trying to undermine with claims of voter fraud.
But the lawsuit is more focused on the merger’s potential impact on the entertainment industry, and the likelihood that less competition in Hollywood would be bad for consumers and rank-and-file workers who have been hit hard by years of cutbacks.
The takeaway? If you care about movies, TV, or American popular culture — arguably our greatest export — then you should be deeply troubled by this merger.
Combining Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery — two conglomerates formed through years of unchecked consolidation — would unite a vast array of networks, studios, and brands under a single corporate behemoth, including:
two of the five remaining major film studios, Paramount and Warner Bros
three major streaming services, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Discovery Plus
more than 50 cable channels, including TLC, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery, HGTV, and Food Network (all part of WBD) and MTV, Paramount, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, and BET (Paramount)
The lawsuit focuses on three sectors of the marketplace that would be affected by the merger and likely see a decrease in competition.
Major Studio Movies in Wide Release
The merger would combine two rival studios and leave just four film distributors (Disney, Sony, Universal, and Paramount-Warner Bros.) in control of roughly 86 percent of major film releases. This would give Paramount-Warner Bros. a huge advantage in negotiating with thousands of theaters around the country to secure the best screens and release dates. Theaters will likely have to fork over a bigger share of their ticket sales to Paramount-Warner Bros., a cost that will almost certainly be passed along to the consumer. Theatergoers will “likely face higher prices and degraded quality,” the suit predicts.
Blockbusters
The suit argues that these issues will be especially pronounced with movies that are expected to be major box-office draws — i.e., blockbusters and tentpole releases, which are controlled almost exclusively by Hollywood’s existing distributors and are essential for driving audiences to theaters. If the merger goes through, Paramount-Warner Bros. alone would control 30 percent of this market, according to the suit.
All of this means that moviegoers would have fewer choices, especially if they want to see something creatively risky that isn’t part of an established franchise.
David Ellison has vowed that Paramount-Warner Bros. would release 30 films a year, which is close to the combined current output of both studios, but Bonta dismissed such promises. As he said in Tuesday’s town hall, “We give little credit to the claims of David Ellison.” He pointed to the Disney-Fox merger in 2019, which resulted in fewer movies getting made and the elimination of much of Fox’s development slate. “What has happened in the past is a better indicator of what will happen in the future than a self-serving claim by an executive who wants the merger to go through,” he said plainly.
Cable Licensing
Last but certainly not least is the issue of cable TV. Combining Paramount and Warner Bros would give the Ellisons control of a portfolio of more than 50 basic cable channels. It would also mean that just two companies, Disney and Paramount-Warner Bros, would control 59 percent of all basic cable in the United States. (Of extreme concern, at least for film lovers, is the future of Turner Classic Movies, which remains one of the most essential platforms for classic Hollywood cinema and has only grown more important with the rise of streaming.) Paramount-Warner Bros. holdings would dwarf those of remaining competitors like Comcast or AMC, and confer the corporation with “enormous bargaining power” when negotiating with cable companies. “With less leverage after the merger, cable television distributors and the subscribers they serve will likely face higher prices and reduced investment in content,” the suit claims.
One only has to look at the networks already controlled by Paramount — once vital, now thoroughly zombified channels like MTV — to imagine what might be in store for the rest of cable TV.
Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian.
Let me as you a fairly simple question, who benefits most from the following consistently repeated legislative actions that:
* lowers taxes on wealth and investment more than on salaries;
* cuts to public benefits while protecting advantages for business owners;
* weakens workers’ ability to bargain collectively;
* allows unlimited political spending by corporations and wealthy interests;
* reduces enforcement against monopolies, financial abuse, pollution, wage theft, or unsafe products;
* permits industries to regulate themselves or places industry insiders in charge of their regulators;
* privatizes public services so taxpayers carry the risk while private investors receive the profit;
* runs up public debt to finance tax advantages whose largest benefits flow upward.
* Removing protections for Federal parks and reserves for expanded drilling, mining, grazing, and commercial development.
The answer to this question is deserving of serious consideration because your life and wellbeing depend on it.
Ex-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán consolidated all of the Hungarian media into a cabal supporting his party and shoring up his power in the country. it's happening here with Trump and his supplicant oligarchs like the Ellisons and Musk.
The media industry is already too concentrated in the hands of huge corporations. If/when this Warner Bros merger goes through which will be more bad news for consumers. It's long past time that we get a 21st century version of Teddy Roosevelt and start busting the monopolies.