Senator Cory Booker called out Paramount Skydance’s absence from an antitrust hearing looking into the impact of the $83 billion Netflix-Warner Bros. deal “frustrating.”
“I invited David Ellison, chair and CEO of Paramount Skydance, to appear today. Mr. Ellison declined stating that Paramount ‘does not believe it would be useful or helpful’ for them to participate as a witness because their offer had been rejected,” Booker said in his opening statement on Tuesday. “I do want to thank Mr. Ellison, though, for meeting with me and I know other senators in person to answer our questions. It was actually very fruitful conversation. It’s unfortunate it wasn’t in public.”
He warned that a Warner Bros. sale to Netflix or Paramount “would result in concerning consolidation of a portion of the economy that is already putting the squeeze on artists and consumers.”
Sen. Booker’s antitrust concerns were echoed by the ranking Republicans on the committee, Utah Sen. Mike Lee and and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.
“Consolidating two major employers in the same market inevitably have an impact on the competition for that labor,” Lee said, calling Warner’s potential sale “extraordinary in both in scale and potential consequence” and adding that with its increased market share, Netflix could “withhold marquee titles, it could raises licensing fees, it could favor its own content with recommendations on a platform of Netflix’s size and reach.”
Since Netflix was chosen by Warner Bros. as the winning bidder with an $82.7 billion offer, it has met with antitrust regulators at the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union, as well as some state attorneys general.
But as Sen. Booker warned at the hearing, there is a possibility that President Donald Trump could influence the sale, as he has a close relationship with Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison.
Trump has shown favor to both Netflix and Paramount Skydance over the course of the bidding war, but most recently shared an OANN article on Truth Social titled “Stop the Netflix Cultural Takeover.” Regardless, Trump has bought $1 million in corporate bonds from both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery following the announcement of the acquisition, something that Sen. Booker noted.
“[The president is] using government power to reward allies, punish perceived enemies and enable private enrichment in ways we have not seen before,” he said.
Beyond Capitol Hill, Warner Bros.’ sale has received vocal opposition from several areas of the entertainment industry, including movie theaters, independent filmmakers, and unions, as well as antitrust watchdog groups. This opposition made its voice known in a letter from the American Economic Liberties Project co-signed by Art House Convergence, the International Documentary Association and the Future Film Coalition.
“Any of these transactions would deepen the media consolidation crisis, resulting in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers, fewer jobs and reduced bargaining power for workers and content creators; effectively killing independent production and movie distribution; and handing Netflix outsized control over content creation and distribution,” the letter says.
