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'One Family Is About to Control CBS, CNN, HBO, and TikTok': Alarm Grows Over Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
"When Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates," said Sen. Chris Murphy. "All of them."
Feb 27, 2026
Concerns are mounting about the state of the US media landscape now that it looks increasingly likely that Paramount Skydance—a company controlled by the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, a donor to President Donald Trump—will succeed in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
One day after Netflix announced that it was dropping its previously accepted bid to buy Warner, many critics demanded that antitrust laws be invoked to block the Paramount-Warner merger from going through.
Alvaro Bedoya, former commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, warned that the Ellison family could soon use their control over vast swaths of US media properties to engage in mass censorship, and he pointed to their decisions to cancel Stephen Colbert's program and to refuse to air an interview with Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico.
"One family is about to control CBS, CNN, HBO, and TikTok," he wrote in a social media post. "They’ll buy [Warner Bros. Discovery] with $24 billion in money from the Saudis, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. To win over Trump, they canceled Colbert... and blocked Talarico. Much more will follow. Block this rotten deal."
Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press, said the proposed Paramount-Warner merger was "even worse" than the proposed Netflix-Warner merger.
"This deal endangers our democracy by giving a family of pliant billionaires even more control of vast swaths of our news coverage, TV stations, and movie studios," Aaron said. "Allowing more mergers in the already highly concentrated movie business will harm filmmakers and industry workers when Paramount delivers on its promise to make deep cuts to please its Wall Street backers."
Writing in the American Prospect, David Dayen described the Paramount-Warner merger as the "worst-case scenario" that has "echoes of media-political consolidation as we see in dictatorships the world over."
Dayen argued that state governments still had time to block the merger, but warned that they were in a race against time given that Paramount's consultants "are trying to speed run the deal in a matter of weeks."
"The states could challenge the merger even after the feds bless it," Dayen continued, "but by then, Paramount and Warner Bros. would have likely commingled their assets, engaged in layoffs, and made it very difficult to untangle the merger, particularly for judges who are inherently conservative on these matters."
Some Democratic lawmakers are warning that they aren't going to stop fighting the Paramount-Warner merger even if it goes through.
In an interview with Semafor, Sen. Ruben Gallego (R-Ariz.) predicted that the Ellisons would come to regret aggressively buying up US media properties.
"Once we take power, whoever the president is, we’re going to break up your companies," said Gallego. "So all the investment you did to create these mergers are going to be for naught. Your investors are going to be pissed at you, and you’re likely going to end up getting fired as the CEO because you wasted so much money and corrupted yourself in the process."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) echoed Gallego's argument in a social media post.
"Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it," he wrote, "because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them."
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'Antitrust Disaster': Son of Billionaire Trump Donor Poised to Take Over Warner Bros.
"A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want."
Feb 27, 2026
Netflix announced Thursday that it would not continue its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, paving the way for Paramount Skydance—a company controlled by the son of billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison—to take over the media giant after a lengthy bidding war.
The news came after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos visited the White House and met with members of President Donald Trump's staff, raising suspicions about the role the administration may have played in pushing the streaming giant to drop its bid for Warner Bros. and cede the fight to David Ellison's Paramount. Along with other major media properties, Warner Bros. owns CNN, a frequent target of Trump's ire.
"What did Trump officials tell the Netflix CEO today at the White House?" asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), calling the potential Paramount-Warner Bros. merger "an antitrust disaster threatening higher prices and fewer choices for American families."
"A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want," Warren added. "With the cloud of corruption looming over Trump’s Department of Justice, it’ll be up to the American people to speak up and state attorneys general to enforce the law."
In a statement that appears to have stunned Hollywood, Netflix announced Thursday that it would not raise its offer for Warner Bros. after that company's board deemed Paramount's latest offer of $111 billion "superior." Netflix said it determined the pursuit of Warner Bros. was "no longer financially attractive."
"Ellison will readily throw the First Amendment, CNN’s reporters, and HBO’s filmmakers under the bus if they stand in the way of expanding his corporate empire and fattening his pockets."
Ellison, for his part, said he was "pleased" that the Warner Bros. board "affirmed the superior value of our offer, which delivers to WBD shareholders superior value, certainty, and speed to closing."
The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger still must receive regulatory approval in the US and Europe. Critics have voiced concerns about the legitimacy of a US Justice Department review given the recent ouster of antitrust chief Gail Slater.
State attorneys general could also intervene. Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, emphasized in a statement that "Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal."
"These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny—the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review," said Bonta.
On top of antitrust concerns, critics of the potential Paramount-Warner Bros. merger warned it would be a disaster for journalism and free expression. David Ellison acquired CBS News last year through the Paramount-Skydance merger approved by the Trump administration, and he is now poised to take over CNN, HBO, and other major platforms.
"Ellison has already shown his cards," said Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. "When the Trump administration unconstitutionally demanded editorial concessions from Ellison’s Skydance in exchange for government approval of its takeover of Paramount and CBS News, he obliged, even appointing a Trump loyalist as a so-called ‘bias ombudsman.’ CBS has since repeatedly censored journalists or altered its coverage to please Trump and his allies."
"There is no reason to believe that this proven capitulator will behave any differently this time around—in fact, he’s already reportedly promised Trump ‘sweeping changes’ at CNN, including firing people Trump dislikes," Stern said. "Ellison will readily throw the First Amendment, CNN’s reporters, and HBO’s filmmakers under the bus if they stand in the way of expanding his corporate empire and fattening his pockets."
"Lawmakers, state attorneys general, and anyone else in a position to intervene should make clear that they will not stand by as the Trump administration abuses its power to unconstitutionally extract content-based concessions from news companies," he added.
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Why There Will Be Almost No Movie Theaters in 5 Years
The race for Warner Bros. by both Netflix and Paramount is just the latest evidence that monopolies will commodify art into oblivion—and a film-loving public will pay the price.
Dec 23, 2025
Whether Netflix or Paramount wins the battle of mega-corporations to merge with the fabled Warner Bros. movie studio, the economics of the film industry no longer support the production of enough feature films for most movie theaters to still be viable businesses. Within a few years, the theatrical feature film will be all but dead with devastating cultural, social, political, and economic impact.
I'm a former senior vice president at MGM/UA (now owned by Amazon) and have been in the room of a major studio at greenlight meetings which decided which films were economically profitable enough (and creatively commercial enough) to go into production.
At these greenlight meetings, senior studio management would analyze spreadsheets projecting the likely production and marketing costs of a proposed film compared to the likely stream of revenues from various sequential windows—theatrical/home video/pay TV/first run free TV/syndicated TV/likelihood of sequels, both in the US and around the world.
Largely because of Netflix, those windows have cratered. There used to be an average three- to four-month window between theatrical release and release for viewing at home, and then multi-month windows between streaming, home video, pay tv, and free tv. Now, if Netflix even allows a theatrical release, they only give it as little as 3 weeks before they start to stream a theatrical film like the recent George Clooney/Adam Sandler/Noah Baumbach film "Jay Kelly," which started streaming just 17 days after it opened in theaters and sold almost no tickets.
A large portion of the public rightly figures that there's no point in rushing out to theater to see a new feature for $15 or more a ticket plus parking and popcorn when they can see it at home in a few weeks. Most theatrical films no longer pencil out.
While there were recently six major studios (plus mini majors), after Warner Bros. is sold (following other recent anti-competitive mergers like Disney buying Fox) there will only be four left.
With the collapsed distribution windows, it's no longer feasible for those four studios to produce enough theatrical features to keep movie theaters in business. In 2015, over 100 films received a major theatrical release with inflation-adjusted box office revenues of over $15 billion while in 2024 they crashed to only 62 films with box office revenues of about $8.6 billion. Over 5,000 movie theaters have already closed their doors in the last couple of years.
And the types of theatrical films being greenlit have been mostly reduced to either $100-$200 million blockbuster action films (many of them sequels which earn less than their predecessors) and under $20 million horror films, as well as some children's films. Dramas and comedies have almost disappeared from the majors' theatrical release schedules except during the fall awards season when a small number of adult films are released in the hopes of being nominated for an Oscar.
“The negative impact of this acquisition will impact theatres from the biggest circuits to one-screen independents in small towns in the United States and around the world,” said Cinema United president Michael O’Leary in a statement. “Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition.”
When he's not giving bullshit public relations statements, Netflix head honcho Ted Sarandos agrees, stating last year that movie theaters are "outdated."
Art is now called "content" and is treated as an asset class to be bought and sold by mega-corporations like they're real estate towers or meme coins. Roughly 2-hour dramas in 3 acts have been inspiring communal audiences for about 2500 years since the Greeks but they're about to largely disappear from theaters, to the detriment of the entire culture. This is ushering in an age with little originality or surprise and general cultural stagnation. The sale of Warner Bros. will only accelerate this trend.
As James Cameron, director of "Titanic" and "Avatar" recently said, it will be a "disaster."
Mainstream Oscar-winning directors of the recent past like Sidney Pollack ("Tootsie," "The Way We Were," Out of Africa"), Sidney Lumet ("Network," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon"), Barry Levinson ("Rain Man," "Wag the Dog," "Good Morning Vietnam") or Alan Pakula ("All The President's Men," "Sophie's Choice") probably couldn't get arrested if they were coming up now. While studio execs may feel cool hanging around with Marty Scorsese, it's unlikely that "Taxi Driver" would be greenlit today.
(The recent tragic murder of Rob and Michelle Reiner brings to mind other examples. Reiner's classics like "When Harry Met Sally" or "A Few Good Men" probably wouldn't get greenlit today, although as a horror film, "Misery," based on a Stephen King novel, might sneak through today if it were dumbed down enough.)
The sale of Warner Bros. to either Netflix or Paramount violates Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act, which provides that a merger is unlawful if its effect may be to substantially lessen competition. Factors include market concentration, foreclosure of rivals, lower wages for employees, the loss of potential competition, incentives to reduce quality or output , and the likelihood of higher prices to consumers for streaming services. We can't count on the Trump administration to bring a solid antitrust claim. But state Attorney Generals have the legal right to sue to block anti-competitive mergers. California Attorney General Rob Bonta should coordinate with other state Attorney Generals to bring such a suit. The Hollywood community should be pressuring Bonta to do so.
Fifteen years ago, Warner Bros. CEO Jeff Bewkes infamously dismissed Netflix as the pipsqueak "Albanian Army." Well, now the Albanian Army has demolished the metaphoric equivalents of the US, Britain, France, Russia, and most of the rest of the world.
We need a new Normandy invasion to take it back.
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