Members of the Block the Merger Coalition have sent three separate letters to U.K. Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy urging her to formally intervene in the pending $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Nandy previously informed Paramount and WBD that she’s “minded” to intervene in the deal while asking for them to address her concerns over whether the deal would result in a “sufficient plurality” of views in news media and address the need for “sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises, or the enterprises providing on-demand [program] services or both, serving that audience.”
The filings from the Democracy Defenders Fund, Archival Producers Alliance (APA), Documentary Film Council and International Documentary Association (IDA) ask Nandy to issue a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) and refer the merger for a more in-depth Phase 2 investigation with a “view to prohibition or obtaining strong, suitable, structural remedies.”
The Block the Merger Coalition warned that the merged entity would become the third-largest linear broadcaster in the U.K. and reach 19% of the population through its on-demand services before accounting for HBO Max.
They claimed that the deal would result in the “reduction in the plurality of persons controlling ODPS serving U.K. audiences,” citing CEO David Ellison’s plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into a single platform.
They also said that the merger would hand a single owner a significant proportion of children’s linear channels operating in the U.K. that could be consolidated into Paramount and extinguish a significant presence in the market; would put the CNN and CBS News archives under a single owner and “worsen discretionary gatekeeping of archival materials,” impacting U.K. documentarians’ ability to tell diverse stories; and would bring Channel 5 News, CBS News, CNN and CNN International under the common ownership of a single controlling family and could potentially “eliminate at least one distinct voice in the U.K. market for international and U.S. news programming.”
APA represents over 700 archive producers from around the globe, while IDA represents over 3,500 documentary professionals across 75 countries.
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority will decide on whether it will clear the merger, seek remedies or launch a Phase 2 investigation by Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, the deal has been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice, Warner Bros. shareholders and the European Commission, who implemented conditions such as an exit from United International Pictures.
Other countries where the deal has received clearance or where relevant waiting periods have expired include Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Ukraine, Montenegro, New Zealand and North Macedonia. Foreign direct investment authorities in Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, Italy, France and Romania have also signed off.
In addition to the U.K., Paramount’s litigation with the 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America will move to an antitrust trial, with the date for a specific hearing to be announced. The media giant agreed to delay the closing of its merger until five days after the outcome of a trial or June 1, 2027, whichever is earliest.
A Paramount shareholder and a group of consumers also filed separate lawsuits to block the merger, though the latter was denied a preliminary injunction after a judge ruled that they failed to show irreparable harm or that their case would have a likelihood of success.
In the event the transaction does not close by Sept. 30, WBD shareholders will receive a 25 cent per share “ticking fee” for each quarter until closing, which translates to a payout of roughly $650 million per quarter, or $7 million per day. In the event that the deal does not close at all due to regulatory matters, Paramount will pay WBD a $7 billion termination fee.
