{"id":425300,"date":"2025-12-05T00:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425300\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T00:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:52:14","slug":"paramount-warns-wbd-netflix-deal-would-likely-never-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/425300\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Warns WBD-Netflix Deal Would Likely Never Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tParamount<\/a> is plenty peeved about the way Warner Bros Discovery is conducting a possible sale and it wants everyone to know it won\u2019t go quietly if either Netflix<\/a> or Comcast are the winning bidder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe David Ellison company is pushing the regulatory angle hard, insisting it\u2019s the only suitor with \u201ca clear path to closing based upon decades of legal precedent.\u201d In a letter from its counsel to WBD, it insists rival offers from Netflix and Comcast both \u201cpresent serious issues that no regulator will be able to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe epistle, submitted alongside its latest offer Monday when the second round bids were due, is separate from a missive delivered Wednesday calling WBD\u2019s sale process unfair.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe letters from Paramount\u2019s Melrose lot to WBD\u2019s Burbank lot indicate a court filing or hostile-takeover play may be in the cards if and when WBD picks a buyer other than Paramount, according to industry insiders.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNetflix\u2019s dominance in streaming and Comcast\u2019s presence as a leading broadband and MVPD player each present unique and serious antitrust concerns that guarantee a long, expensive review process and imperil closing either deal. Paramount is the easier path, and its outcome is assured,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt mostly focused on the giant streamer. \u201cThe simple truth is that a deal with Netflix as the buyer likely will never close,\u201d it said. \u201cNetflix is the only remaining Big Tech company that has not faced serious global antitrust enforcement, but attempting to acquire the WBD assets will change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt included charts and stats detailing Netflix\u2019s dominance of streaming in the U.S. and abroad, which would be greatly expanded with the addition of HBO Max. It said that while Netflix may attempt to define a market to include social media and short-form video platforms like YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, that strategy is \u201cdoomed to fail\u201d with regulators. The letter referenced a presentation of said argument to WBD\u2019s team last weekend.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt also noted that a Netflix-Warner Bros deal would reduce the number of films for broad theatrical release, \u201cfurther pushing consumers away from theaters to streaming and harming those theaters which are already struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix has reportedly said it would continue to honor WBD\u2019s theatrical commitments, <\/a>but Paramount called the statements \u201cinherently time-limited, transactional and defensive \u2014 aimed at blunting an obvious theory of harm that enforcers in the U.S. and outside the U.S. are expected to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cParamount provides WBD with a clear path to closing around the world. There is no market segment in the U.S. or abroad where the parties\u2019 combined share even comes close to the 30 percent threshold that triggers regulators and competition enforcers to presume that a transaction is illegal. To the contrary, the transaction will create a much more robust competitor against the dominant firm in streaming, Netflix, while creating new opportunities for creators and talent. A combination of Paramount and WBD accordingly will provide WBD shareholders the fastest and most certain path to unlocking value,\u201d Paramount said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Wall Street Journal, which first reported on this second letter, said WBD has asked for a third round of bids by today although some are calling the situation a bit more fluid. WBD had hoped to settle on a buyer for all or part of the company by year\u2019s end. Paramount is going for all of Warner Bros., including global linear networks. Netflix and Comcast are in the running to buy the Warner Bros. Studios and HBO Max streaming.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Comcast, Paramount wrote that its \u201cpresence as a leading broadband and MVPD player also presents significant antitrust concerns. Antitrust enforcement has shifted, and the tough regulatory path Comcast faced when it acquired NBC Universal with a tortured and controversial consent decree will not be available under this Administration or any subsequent one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tComcast and Warner both have major film and television studios. They have few other overlapping businesses as the Philadelphia-based media giant is spinning off its cable networks into a new company, Versant. It is a major theme park owner and offers broadband and video provider.<\/p>\n

\n\tDominic Patten contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount is plenty peeved about the way Warner Bros Discovery is conducting a possible sale and it wants…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,198118,4659,15329,67,132,68,27281],"class_list":{"0":"post-425300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-comcasat","10":"tag-netflix","11":"tag-paramount","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115664227264107065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}