{"id":187065,"date":"2026-02-21T03:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187065\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:44:15","slug":"california-officials-to-scrutinize-netflix-or-paramount-merger-with-wb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/187065\/","title":{"rendered":"California Officials To Scrutinize Netflix Or Paramount Merger With WB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/california\/\" id=\"auto-tag_california_1\" data-tag=\"california\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">California<\/a> Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/rob-bonta\/\" id=\"auto-tag_rob-bonta_1\" data-tag=\"rob-bonta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rob Bonta<\/a> said that his office will give the <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/netflix\/\" id=\"auto-tag_netflix_1\" data-tag=\"netflix\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Netflix<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/paramount\/\" id=\"auto-tag_paramount_1\" data-tag=\"paramount\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Paramount<\/a> proposals for <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/warner-bros-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_warner-bros-2_1\" data-tag=\"warner-bros-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Warner Bros.<\/a> a \u201cfull and robust review.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBonta\u2019s statement on Friday underscored another element in the regulatory road for the merger: state attorneys general, adding to the scrutiny from the Department of Justice and overseas regulators. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cFurther\u00a0consolidation\u00a0in markets\u00a0that are\u00a0central to American economic life does not serve our\u00a0economy, consumers, or competition well. In fact, consolidation of markets has led to increased unaffordability, a loss of good-paying job opportunities, and fewer choices for consumers,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThe film and entertainment industry in California not only has historical importance to our state, it also is a critical sector that buoys the state\u2019s economy of California and touches the lives of Americans daily. The proposed Warner Brothers\u00a0transactions must receive a full and robust review, and California is taking a very close look.\u00a0We are committed to fighting market consolidation that we find unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPer a research note this week from Guggenheim Securities, Netflix executives told investors that \u201c13-14 state attorneys general\u2014both Democratic and Republican\u2014are actively investigating the WBD deal, reflecting the increasingly active role of states in merger review.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tEarlier on Friday, Paramount <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/02\/paramount-clears-us-antitrust-hurdle-warner-bros-discovery-1236730560\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> that it had cleared a 10-day waiting period after responding to a second request for information from the DOJ around its unsolicited offer for <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/warner-bros-discovery\/\" id=\"auto-tag_warner-bros-discovery_1\" data-tag=\"warner-bros-discovery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>. Netflix dismissed the announcement, though, noting that the milestone does not mean that Paramount had regulatory clearance.<\/p>\n<p>\tMore from this Story Arc<\/p>\n<p>\t\tNetflix WB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that his office will give the Netflix and Paramount proposals for Warner&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,17353,9233,88019,6336,2794,14955,26368],"class_list":{"0":"post-187065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-electionline","12":"tag-netflix","13":"tag-netflix-wb","14":"tag-paramount","15":"tag-rob-bonta","16":"tag-warner-bros","17":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}