Larry Ellison, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation, visits the Oval Office on  Feb. 3. If the proposed Paramount-Warner goes through, Ellison and his son, David, would own and  control two of the Big Five movie studios, TV networks CBS and CNN, an emporium of more than 50 basic cable TV channels and more.

At $110 billion, the marriage of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which President Donald Trump has encouraged and his administration has blessed, would be Hollywood’s most extravagant consolidation. It would lawfully wed two of the Big Five movie studios, one of the four nationwide broadcast networks, an emporium of more than 50 basic cable TV channels, from Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon to TBS, the Food Network and Travel Channel, along with premium channels like Showtime and HBO, streaming networks like HBO Max and Paramount and three major TV production studios.

When the smoke clears, says a suit filed by California and 11 other states hoping to block the merger, a “media behemoth” would control more than a quarter of every dollar from wide-release theatrical films and basic cable channels, 59% of them owned either by the new entity or Disney. The result would be the collapse of decades of fierce competition between legendary movie giants Paramount and Warner, triggering an industry-wide squeeze on theater-owners, cable operators, creative talents and even moviegoers.

“The likely result is higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film,” the suit says. 

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Simply put, it’s........

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