{"id":434808,"date":"2026-02-19T20:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:29:11","slug":"could-eu-regulators-pick-paramount-over-netflix-in-warner-bros-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434808\/","title":{"rendered":"Could EU Regulators Pick Paramount Over Netflix in Warner Bros Battle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDavid Ellison<\/a>\u2019s heated battle with Netflix<\/a> for ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> could wind up playing out prominently in Brussels, where regulatory officials are expected to formally open an antitrust probe as part of their approval procedure, once a deal with one of the two contenders is sealed in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut even before a Warner Bros. Discovery deal is clinched stateside, so-called \u201cpre-notification discussions\u201d reviewing the rival merger scenarios are already underway within the European Union\u2019s regulatory offices.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery said it\u00a0will engage in discussions with Paramount for a seven-day window to \u201cseek clarity\u201d on its \u201cbest and final offer<\/a>\u201d in its hostile takeover effort. At the same time, WBD said it remained committed to its $83 billion deal with Netflix for now and recommended shareholders vote in favor of that pact at a March 20 special meeting.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo where do Netflix and Paramount stand with Brussels?<\/p>\n

\n\tEllison, who is a man on a mission, made his case for Paramount Skydance with members of the EU\u2019s Directorate-General for Competition as part of a recent European lobbying tour-de-force that also took him to France, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, and to Germany and the U.K.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing that European tour, Ellison sent an open letter<\/a> earlier this month to journalists around the world \u2014 including in the U.K. and France \u2014 vowing that if Paramount Skydance clinches the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, that combined entity would produce at least 30 feature films per year which, he underlined, would all be released in movie theatres.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the missive, which was published as a paid announcement in newspapers around the world, Ellison argued that audiences \u201care best served by greater choice \u2014 not less \u2014 and by a marketplace that encourages the full spectrum of filmmaking, content creation, and theatrical exhibition.\u201d He claimed that a Netflix merger would instead eliminate \u201cmeaningful competition by creating a monopolistic or dominant entity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix, meanwhile, is also believed to be discussing the ins and outs of a Warner Bros. Discovery merger with the EU regulator. And it\u2019s an entity that the U.S. streaming giant knows well.<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix has \u201ca well-oiled machine when it comes to lobbying in Europe,\u201d says Fran\u00e7ois Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis. The company has a longstanding dialogue with Brussels, he notes, having engaged in lots of back and forth over the EU\u2019s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) norm that forces foreign streamers to invest a portion of their revenue into local productions. A norm that, by and large, Netflix abides by.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut at this stage, it can be argued that Paramount has an image advantage.<\/p>\n

\n\tMax von Thun, director of Europe at the Brussels-based Open Markets Institute, says he cannot rule out the possibility that a Netflix deal could clear regulatory hurdles in U.S. and then hit a wall in Europe, where the key regulatory issues will be the acquisition\u2019s effect on European consumers as well as jobs in the production and theatrical exhibition businesses.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Von Thun, Paramount Skydance is somewhat at an advantage with the European regulator because the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger would have \u201ca more clear impact on consumers,\u201d he says, since \u201cNetflix are obviously a bigger player in streaming than Paramount are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe EU is very sensitive on the issue of consumer prices. There are concerns that if Netflix decided to merge Netflix and HBO Max \u2013 which Netflix execs have said they will not do, at least initially \u2014 that would give them more leverage to hike subscription costs. Combining Netflix and HBO would also give a merged Netflix-WB more leverage in negotiations with European indie producers and content providers.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Godard, just as in the U.S., the main concern in Europe over Netflix clinching the Warner Bros. Discovery deal revolves around the fear that Netflix\u2019s victory could harm the theatrical business.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a concern \u201cwhich obviously Paramount is in a better position to defend,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut at the same time, Godard also thinks Netflix \u201ccould give very strong reassurances to European regulators that they don\u2019t want to kill movie theatre releases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn mid-December, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos<\/a> met with Macron and French film bosses while he was in France for the premiere of \u201cEmily in Paris\u201d Season 4. He vowed to keep Warner Bros. movies in theaters during a fireside chat with Canal+ Group CEO Maxime Saada. \u201cOur intention is to continue to release Warner movies theatrically, respecting traditional theatrical windows, and we will continue to operate Warner studios independently,\u201d Sarandos said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNetflix is after IP in this deal,\u201d according to Godard. \u201cI think they understand that the theatrical window still creates enormous long-term IP value; much more than TV or streaming,\u201d he notes, citing the fact that the value of the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and \u201cStar Wars\u201d franchises was created by theatrical play.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which represents film trade associations and theater operators in 39 countries across Europe, also\u00a0recently met with the EU\u2019s Directorate-General for Competition. After the meeting, they underlined in a statement that theatrical release windows are a \u201ckey principle\u201d that has to be protected in any deal. But UNIC added that it does not support either of the current bids, noting that both mergers could result in a \u201csignificant downside for European cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGerman producer Martin Moskowicz, former head of Constantin, which makes the\u00a0\u201cResident Evil\u201d\u00a0franchise, agrees. \u201cNeither of these deals are good for business,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut on the EU regulatory side, Moskowicz thinks Netflix has a slight advantage over Paramount.<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix\u2019s \u201cantitrust exposure\u201d is lower, he says, since it is already \u201cdeeply embedded in local production\u201d in Europe where the company has \u201ca lot more consumer and industry relationships\u201d than Paramount has.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe one thing the EU will look into is [theatrical] windowing,\u201d notes Moskowicz who, like Godard, believes Netflix will be able to make a convincing case that the streaming giant does not pose an ulterior threat to Europe\u2019s withering moviegoing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\n\tMoskowicz and Godard both note that Brussels could ask whichever contender emerges as victor for assurances on specific points, or impose some conditions before the EU gives their deal the greenlight. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut as Von Thun, Godard and other analysts have pointed out, EU regulators very rarely block media mergers. It did not happen with Disney-21st Century Fox in 2018, with Comcast\u2019s bid for Sky the same year or with the 2021 merger of AT&T\u2019s WarnerMedia and Discovery Communications.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo the biggest impact the EU could have on either Warner Bros. Discovery merger deal \u201ccould be delay,\u201d says international lawyer Joseph Gulino, managing partner at DRRT. \u201cIn the U.S., I think we\u2019ll see a quicker move to approve any deal that is favored by the DOJ and the White House,\u201d Gulino points out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, in Europe, giving the green light will be up to the EU\u2019s antitrust chief, Teresa Ribeira, who has been slapping hefty fines lately on Google and Elon Musk\u2019s X\u00a0for breaching European Union rules.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut while merger reviews are legally independent from each other in different jurisdictions around the world, don\u2019t forget the bigger political picture.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn practice, \u201ceven if the regulators in Europe would say that they are not influenced by what happens in the U.S. obviously, they do take that into account,\u201d says Von Thun.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the end, U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s blessing for either deal may be as crucial to winning this battle in Europe as some consider it to be stateside.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are in a very fraught geopolitical moment,\u201d Von Thun says. \u201cSo I\u2019m sure they [European regulators] will be thinking: \u2018Oh, if we block this and Trump approves it, are we going to get some kind of backlash?’\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Ellison\u2019s heated battle with Netflix for ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery could wind up playing out prominently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,16384,59,392,129474,56,54,55,18200],"class_list":{"0":"post-434808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-david-ellison","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-netflix","12":"tag-ted-sarandos","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}