The merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance is unpopular for any number of reasons: Jobs will be lost, competition will be decreased, Paramount has already pushed CBS News to the right and could do the same to CNN. But could all of these concerns actually be part of an astroturfed campaign by Netflix to block the merger? No, but some at Paramount are growing suspicious that Netflix is at least taking advantage of them for its own ends, according to a report from Puck‘s Eriq Gardner.
According to Gardner, there is suspicion within Paramount that Netflix might have something to do with the Block The Merger campaign, which has so far passed 4,000 signatures from those in the industry, including famous names like Denis Villeneuve, Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, Javier Bardem, Lilly Wachowski, Nia DaCosta, and many more. Of course, Netflix denies any involvement, but Gardner writes that he’s heard of Netflix shopping for some publicity operatives to help stop or at least delay the deal. Economist Nicholas Hill has reportedly been retained to deal with regulators on Netflix’s behalf; Hill testified for the plaintiffs in the recent Live Nation trial. Again, Netflix denies hiring Hill, but Gardner says a senior government official contradicts this. “Frankly, I am surprised at how aggressive they’ve been with me,” says the official who claims to have fielded several calls from people connected to Netflix seeking to attach licensing conditions to the merger.
Of course, Netflix, if it is indeed involved, would not be acting altruistically, but to try to limit the competition that it faces. Presumably, Netflix views Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount separately as less of a threat than WBD-Paramount as a single entity. Regardless, Puck points out that blocking the merger is looking increasingly possible (which doesn’t necessarily mean likely) given the luck state attorneys general have had with Live Nation’s monopoly case and the Nexstar-Tegna merger in recent weeks.
