Thank you!
06.03.2026 19:54
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Thank you!
In preparation for a media interview this morning, I updated an earlier post on the implications of Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal will remake the US & global media landscape and galvanize a growing phalanx of Trump loyal media. www.bbc.com/news/article... 1/
To be blunt, the US under Trump is a failed state, unable to effectively execute policies and administrative functions. 👏 🙁
If & when Trump is removed & democracy restored in the US, a new govt could unwind the Paramount deals. The new Wilson Admin in 1913, for eg, forced AT&T to spin off Western Union which it had acquired 5 years earlier. If it could be done then, it can be done again. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsbu...
While the DoJ is unlikely to do anything, California's AG Bonta observes: "the Paramount/WBD is not a done deal-the California DoJ has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review". Here's hoping. variety.com/2026/biz/new... 21/
As such, they are also complicit in bringing about and maintaining an openly illiberal and autocratic regime, if not yet a wholly authoritarian government. 20/
As a result, Trump has rolled up more of the US media in a year than autocratic leaders like Viktor Orban have done in Hungary in a decade, with upwards of 2/5s of the US media system now openly flaunting the basic structural rules & values of a democratic media system and free press. 19/
While Trump sent an aide to meet with Netflix's Sarandos, he met personally with Paramount representatives. David Ellison attended the State of the Union Address. In sum, media power is swiftly and steadily being fused together with oligarchy and autocracy. 18/
Trump intervened in favour of Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery while sabotaging Netflix's competing (but also problematic) bid. He called for one of its directors, Susan Rice, to be removed & refused to meet with Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief, after having invited him. 17/
Ditto for the appointment of Trump-friendly news anchor, Tony Dokupil, and as part of its so-called agreement with Trump assigned a former ambassador in Trump’s first administration as a “bias monitor”. 16/
The $16M payout to Trump so that the previous owners, the Redstone family, could sell Paramount to the Ellisons was one indicator of that. The appointment of agitprop warrior Bari Weiss as director of CBS News is another. 15/
In fact, none of what is going on in the US right now is normal. The open partisan alliance between big tech and media on one side & the autocratic Trump Administration is exemplified by Bezos $75M puff piece, Melania (which has been a big flop). www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film... 14/
Regulatory review of takeovers is difficult under the best of circumstances. With a Trump banner hanging over the fascade of the DoJ, we are far from such circumstances. Consequently, it is unlikely this deal will get a proper review by either the DoJ or the FTC. www.cbc.ca/news/world/t... 13/
In a bid to assuage such concerns, Paramount has pledged to release 30 films/year to theatres. However, Disney's takeover of 20th Century Fox suggests the pledge will be hard to keep. Such pledges are also hard for regulators to monitor and effectively enforce after a deal closes. 12/
Paramount's takeover of WBD will add $58B will cause the merged companies' debt to soar to $70B. The credit rating's agency Fitch has already downgraded its debt to junk status. As a result, budget cuts & job losses to come are likely to be even more severe. www.latimes.com/entertainmen... 11/
Takeovers also load media firm w/ debt that they struggle to serve, driving budget & job cuts. The drive to cut $2B in costs at Paramount in the last year has led to 2000 jobs--or about 10% of its total workforce--being cut. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/b... 10/
Consequently, despite being amongst the biggest media conglomerates in the world, entities like Paramount, WBD and MGM are now small divisions integrated into much larger global tech companies. This is not just "platform dependence" but "platform subsordination" to wealth and power. 9/
Digital platforms are also becoming more central to the aggregation & distribution of media services & audiences. The deepening integration through ownership, distribution & content spending is not only tightening the dependence of media on platforms but subordinating media to big tech. 8/
It is similar to Amazon acquiring MGM in 2022, and the Washington Post a decade earlier. They are also now amongst the biggest spenders on tv, film, music & gaming content. au.variety.com/2025/tv/news... 7/
Paramount says that it needs to acquire WBD to better compete with tech behemoths like Amazon, Alphabet & Apple. However, Paramount & WBD take over by Oracle and the Ellson family is better seen as part of bigger trend of big tech companies deepening move into the media industries. 6/
Post-takeover Paramount WBD will galvanize a growing phalanx of Trump loyal media: Fox (News) Corp, Amazon, Nexstar, Tegna, Sinclair. Altogether, Trump loyalist media will now control ~40% of the US tv, streaming & film market-~4X what it was before the Ellison’s bought Paramount in August 2025. 5/
The # of Hollywood studios will fall from 5 to 4, while Paramount-WBD will control just under 30% of the film and tv production and distribution market. Meanwhile, CBS & CNN will also be under common ownership control. 5/
Paramount’s share of the video streaming market will nearly double, uniting HBO Max, Paramount+, Discovery and BET+ under common ownership. The top 4 players will share of the online video market will jump to just under 80% from 72%, reversing the steady ↑ of diversity in the past decade. 4/
Post-takeover Paramount-WBD will control ~2/5s of the cable tv market, own 30+ channels (Showtime, CBS News, CBS Sports, CNN, HBO, HGTV) and a very deep catalogue of programming rights (Transformers, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Dune, UEFA, NCAA Men’s Basketball, NBA, NASCAR, UFC, NFL), 3/
Post-takeover Paramount- Warner Bros. Discovery’s share of the $223B US television, streaming & film industries will soar from ~10% to over 25%. 2/
In preparation for a media interview this morning, I updated an earlier post on the implications of Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal will remake the US & global media landscape and galvanize a growing phalanx of Trump loyal media. www.bbc.com/news/article... 1/
The other option is to force this deal & others like it to be unwound when the Trump regime is removed from power. The US did this in 1913 when the new Wilson Admin forced AT&T to unwind its acquisition of Western Union 5 years earlier and it can be done again. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsbu...
While the DoJ is unlikely to do anything, California's AG Bonta observes: "the Paramount/WBD is not a done deal-the California DoJ has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review". Here's hoping. variety.com/2026/tv/news... 21/
As such, they are also complicit in bringing about and maintaining an openly illiberal and autocratic regime, if not yet a wholly authoritarian government. 20/
Trump has rolled up more of the US media system in a year than autocratic leaders like Viktor Orban have done in Hungary in a decade. As noted earlier, upwards of 2/5s of the US media system is now openly flaunting the basic structural rules & values of a democratic media system and free press. 19/