Americans should be alarmed by the nearly $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery that allies of the Trump administration are currently rushing to the finish line. If the merger goes through, Americans will pay more for less, thousands of workers will likely lose their jobs, and two of the country’s most important newsrooms will fall under the control of a billionaire who has already begun censoring journalists on behalf of the Trump White House. State attorneys general have the power to stop it—and they should.
Consider just the economic case against the deal. Three months after the Ellisons officially took over Paramount, the company announced it would hike subscription prices by as much as 50% on Paramount+, its flagship streaming service. If Paramount is allowed to acquire Warner Bros., too—the owner of HBO Max, CNN, and a massive content library—the resulting mega-corporation will likely have the market power to increase prices even further, lay off workers at these services, and force streamers everywhere to accept fewer options and worse programming.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Contrarian.
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