Though it has yet to become front-page news in the UK, you should know about the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros merger. It threatens to inflict immense harm on the British public. As actors and public figures who have spent our careers in the arts in Britain – working with British crews, on British stages and sets – we have a responsibility to the public who support, enjoy and consume the art we make.

The UK is being threatened by a media merger that would harm our workers, our culture and the public – but we can stop it. We are encouraged by Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, who recently sent letters to Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery, as well as a statement to parliament, indicating that she is “minded to intervene” in Paramount’s $110bn takeover of Warner Bros.

She is correct to investigate this major threat to the UK’s public interest. And she will not be acting alone. This month, 12 US states, led by California, sued in federal court to block the merger, warning that it would raise prices, shrink the number of films made and degrade the quality of what audiences see. And they just won a major victory: on Friday, Paramount agreed to delay the merger until trial, which could be months. These states acted even after Washington’s own justice department – despite the reported reservations of career staff – waved the deal through.

Their lawsuit confirms the danger; it cannot, however, do the UK’s work for it. US courts fight on the antitrust front for US markets. The EU, which last week conditionally backed the merger, also makes its own decisions. The UK’s public interest, our public service broadcasting, our news plurality, the plurality of voices British audiences hear, can only be defended here, by our own secretary of state and the Competition and Markets Authority.

The fight against this merger now runs on two fronts, and Nandy........

© The Guardian