{"id":799540,"date":"2026-07-13T17:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/799540\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:37:11","slug":"states-sue-to-block-paramount-warner-bros-merger-defying-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/799540\/","title":{"rendered":"States Sue to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Defying DOJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA coalition of 12 states filed an antitrust lawsuit<\/a> on Monday to block the merger of Paramount Skydance<\/a> and Warner Bros., defying the Department of Justice, which approved the deal last month.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe coalition, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleges that the $111 billion transaction violates the Clayton Act by lessening competition in three distinct markets: wide-release theatrical distribution, \u201ctop-grossing\u201d theatrical distribution, and basic cable licensing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe 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.,\u201d Bonta said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe suit argues that the combined company will control 27% of the wide-release theatrical distribution market, 30% of the submarket comprising \u201canticipated blockbuster films,\u201d and 27% of the basic cable bundle. The states argue that such consolidation will harm theaters and cable and satellite providers that rely on competition among distributors.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount and Warner Bros. are two of the five remaining legacy studios. Together, all five \u2014 including Disney, Sony and Universal \u2014 control 86% of theatrical distribution and 90% of blockbuster distribution, the states said. Warner Bros. and Paramount are also the second- and third-largest basic cable distributors, respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cConsolidation here not only leads to higher prices \u2014 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,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cIn this country, no one is above the law. With this lawsuit, California and our sister states are fighting for free and fair markets, not rigged markets. America has no kings in government or our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount has argued that the deal will benefit consumers, creating a stronger streaming competitor to Netflix, Amazon and Disney. David Ellison, the CEO, has repeatedly promised that the combined company will release at least 30 films a year, maintaining and expanding the two companies\u2019 current output.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis type of challenge doesn\u2019t make much sense,\u201d said Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for Paramount, in an interview with Variety last week. \u201cFrom California\u2019s standpoint, the deal is going to lead to more production and to better jobs and more jobs for talent in California and elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe DOJ gave its blessing<\/a> to the merger in June, issuing an unusually lengthy commentary arguing that the deal will not harm competition in the theatrical, streaming and linear TV markets. Meanwhile, Hollywood unions have also expressed reservations, or outright opposition, to the deal, warning that further industry consolidation threatens thousands of jobs. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe states are expected to seek an injunction to block the transaction, which Paramount expects to close sometime after July 22.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Oregon attorney general, Dan Rayfield, asked a court last week to pause the merger for 60 days, arguing that Paramount had stymied his investigation by failing to respond to document requests. Rayfield sought records of Paramount\u2019s lobbying of the Trump administration, suggesting that the DOJ\u2019s determination may have been the product of a \u201ccorrupt bargain.\u201d His office withdrew the request on Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 12 states in the coalition are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. All are represented by Democratic attorneys general.<\/p>\n

\n\tBonta has repeatedly stated that the transaction raises \u201cred flags,\u201d and warned that his office would not defer to the DOJ\u2019s position. Under the Trump administration, the DOJ Antitrust Division has backed away from several cases \u2014 including a case against Ticketmaster-Live Nation during the trial. The states have started to be more aggressive about going it alone, as when they obtained a injunction blocking the Nexstar-Tegna merger from taking effect this spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coalition of 12 states filed an antitrust lawsuit on Monday to block the merger of Paramount Skydance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,27395],"class_list":["post-799540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-paramount-skydance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}