12 states sued to block a proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the lawsuit filed on Monday accuses the deal between the two mega-studios and streaming giants of violating antitrust law.
Bonta said the the $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. by Paramount would leave the resulting company with control of nearly a third of all movie production and cable television programming in the United States. California was joined in the suit by 11 other states, all of which have a Democrat serving as attorney general.
“The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors and, ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.,” Bonta shared in a statement.
Paramount representatives accused the AGs of being “wrong on both the facts and the law” in a statement. The spokesperson claimed that any hold-up to the proposed merger would “only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.”
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Bonta said the merger would stifle competition, increase consumer costs and reduce choice at the box office.
“California’s film and entertainment industry touches the lives of Americans daily — it comes into the living rooms of families, has a starring role in many young people’s first dates, and is a point of immense pride and employment for Californians up and down our state,” he said. Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices — it also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences.”
