Netflix-Warner Bros. Deal Falters Under Growing Political and Legal Fire

SCOTUS Removes IEEPA Tariffs From Toolbox, Now Is Time for the BAT

Glib Barista AOC’s Ignorance Front and Center at Munich Security Conference

Most Memorable Moments of Trump’s Previous State of the Union Addresses

Trump Administration Keeps Vast Number of Guns From Mexican Cartels

Why Are Anti-ICE Activists Building Borders?

EXCLUSIVE: Heritage Says States Should Charge Tuition to Illegal Alien Children

Wisconsin Residents Reject ‘Minnesota Nice’ on Immigration

 InternationalCommentary

Cracking Down on China’s Trade Cheating the Right Way

Time for Denmark and the United States to Secure Greenland

Daughter Pleads for Father’s Release From Chinese Prison 

What to Expect in PLA Activities Near Taiwan Leading Up to Trump and Xi Summit

Conservatives Look to Protect Truckers From ‘Unqualified’ Illegal Immigrant Drivers

House to Vote on Trump’s War Powers

Democrats Make Pick to Respond to Trump’s SOTU Address

Republicans Fear Midterm Loss After Gonzales Denies Affair

ACLU Looks to Dismantle Ohio Election Integrity Law

Largest ‘Precinct’: Why Some Mail Ballots Travel Across State Lines Before Counting Begins

Schumer Vows to Fight Supposed ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ Bill With Policy 83% of Americans Support

‘Want to Cheat’: Noem Rips ‘Conspiracy Theories’ Against SAVE America Act

‘War Was Visited Upon These People’: Play About Oct. 7 Comes to DC

Are Americans Being Radicalized Online and Converting to Islam?

International Analysis

Why Is the Iran Regime on the Verge of Collapse?

Trump Envoy Announces Next Phase of Gaza Peace Plan 

Meet the People Fueling Chaos in Minneapolis, New York, and Beyond 

OH BABY! Couples Could Make Big Money on Trump Accounts

What Comes Next for Venezuela? State Department Official Explains

ICE Operations: What Americans Actually Want  

Glib Barista AOC’s Ignorance Front and Center at Munich Security Conference

The New Democratic Socialist Party Is a ‘Graveyard of Bad Ideas’

International Commentary

Victor Davis Hanson: Rubio Tells Europe What It Needs to Hear

EXPOSED: Taxpayers Paying for Democrat Activists’ Grad School Tuition

Netflix-Warner Bros. Deal Falters Under Growing Political and Legal Fire

(Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Michael J. Hough served as a member of the Maryland Senate from 2015 to 2023. He served on the Judicial Proceedings Committee.

One of the largest proposed mergers in business history will have to wait a little longer.

Netflix, which is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery recently granted WBD a seven-day pause so it can explore another offer from Paramount Skydance. 

Cue a sigh of relief from many who are worried that purchasing Warner Bros. would make Netflix—the nation’s top streaming service—too big. The proposed deal is worth about $83 billion and would see Netflix, already a streaming giant, take ownership of everything from Batman to “Game of Thrones” to fellow streamer Max. 

The proposed Netflix-WBD acquisition has sent shockwaves through Hollywood.

Most mega-mergers have involved content producers combining forces, such as when Warner Bros. and Discovery joined up in 2022. But Netflix, though it has some of its own content—think “House of Cards” and “Stranger Things”—is primarily relied upon as a streaming platform, with more than 88 million subscribers in the U.S., ahead of Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other contenders. 

Warner Bros., meanwhile, is one of the top entertainment production companies in the world, ranking up there with Disney. Merging it with Netflix wouldn’t just make the latter company huge; it would stack both the production and streaming of so much media in the same place, making everyone answer to the same set of executives and shareholders. 

When monopolistic behavior sees one company gain a corner in the marketplace, competition gets squashed and the average American suffers most.

We have seen this with everything from life-saving drugs to airlines to internet providers. The results are too often higher prices and inferior services thanks to one corporation with few to no competitors holding all the cards.  

It’s happened in the world of entertainment too.

As small, independent film producers scratch out an existence with crowd-funded productions and shoe-leather marketing techniques, megamerger after megamerger continues to shrink content choices, restricting them to those with the most mass appeal and in the biggest demand.  

So, it shouldn’t be surprising that some are balking at the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger.

When the deal was first announced, President Donald Trump said it “could be a problem” because it would create an enormous market share for Netflix. Later, the president said he would be watching to “see what percentage of market they have.” 

Sen. Chuck Grassley,  R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned, “Control of both a large platform and a deep library of films and shows can affect the bargaining power across the industry… I encourage our antitrust regulators to carefully scrutinize this transaction to ensure that competition is not undermined and to make sure that consumers are protected.” 

Many Democrats are skeptical too, with one Democrat senator releasing a statement calling the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal an “anti-monopoly nightmare” and asking the Justice Department to “enforce our nation’s anti-monopoly laws fairly and transparently.” 

Some Warner Bros. shareholders have also wondered whether the deal is in their best interest, with one cautioning that “the WBD Board opted to rush into a flawed deal with Netflix rather than earnestly pursue a superior offer from Paramount—in line with the directors’ fiduciary duties.”  

A recent Reuters headline hints that this division runs deep: “Some of Warner Bros’ biggest investors are split on Paramount offer.” Such shareholder skepticism is reportedly why Warner Bros. decided to entertain a bid from Paramount-Skydance in the first place, according to CNBC.  

When this much of the universe is lining up against you, it would be wise to ask why. Warner Bros. owes its customers this much as they now deliberate over which corporation to join up with. 

We live in a changing world, including when it comes to how we watch movies and TV. The good, old-fashioned movie theater is shutting its doors as more and more of us stream content from home. 

Yet whether you like or dislike these changes, most of us agree that concentrating too much of this new economic power under a single corporate entity isn’t a good idea. We’ve seen that happen before and it never turns out well.  Warner Bros. should consider this during its weeklong pause. The company’s many iconic entertainment properties deserve to end up in good hands.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. 

Hollywood vs Individualism

Grab Your Grammy, Then Get Hammy About Illegal Immigrants

Faith, Not Foul-Mouthed Scolds, Shined at the Grammys

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.

You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.

The Tony Kinnett Cast

The Daily Signal Podcast

© 2025 The Daily Signal Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

We use cookies on our website. By using our website, you consent to cookies.  Learn More .  

© The Daily Signal