By Jody Godoy
Dec 5 (Reuters) – Netflix pitched its $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and streaming division as aligned with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s competition enforcers on Friday, but intense antitrust scrutiny is all but guaranteed.
Netflix executives touted the deal as creating jobs and giving the company’s 300 million subscribers “more bang for their buck” by adding more content at a time when the administration is focused on affordability and lower prices for consumers.
But even before it was announced, Netflix’s defense of the deal faced criticism from Republicans in Congress, who have warned that Netflix absorbing HBO Max and Warner Bros’ content rights would reduce choice for consumers and give the company an unacceptably high share of the streaming market.
U.S. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who leads the Senate antitrust committee, said Wednesday that a Netflix buy of Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming assets “should send alarm to antitrust enforcers around the world.”
“Netflix built a great service, but increasing Netflix’s dominance this way would mean the end of the Golden Age of streaming for content creators and consumers,” Lee wrote in a post on social media site X.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas and Representative Darrell Issa of California also called on U.S. antitrust enforcers last month to scrutinize the deal, saying that a lack of competitive pressure would incentivize Netflix to shoot and release fewer movies in theaters.
The deal, given its size alone, is likely to face significant antitrust review by the U.S. Department of Justice, and also because the addition of HBO Max’s 128 million subscribers to Netflix’s more than 300 million would create a formidable player.
That said, Netflix can point to shifting media habits and the fact that Alphabet’s YouTube has recently been the most popular way for Americans to watch TV.
While Netflix came in with the highest bid for the studio and streaming assets, it has been the political underdog compared with David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance, which has close ties with the Trump administration.
“We’re highly confident in the regulatory process. This deal is pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-worker, it’s pro-creator, it’s pro-growth,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said after the deal was announced.
The DOJ antitrust unit is led by Gail Slater, a former executive at Fox Corp and Roku. She was later an economic advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and since her confirmation has spoken often on using antitrust to protect American consumers, workers and innovation.
President Donald Trump has a history of getting involved in big media mergers and weighing in on one side. He actively lobbied his Department of Justice to stop AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of Time-Warner, voicing concerns about media concentration and his own displeasure with Time-Warner’s CNN cable network. AT&T ultimately won in court in 2018 and 2019.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy; editing by Chris Sanders and Franklin Paul)
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