Top House Judiciary Democrat escalates scrutiny of Paramount merger in new letter - Live Updates - POLITICO

In a new letter Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland — the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee — invited Paramount CEO David Ellison to appear for a transcribed interview “to tell Congress and America your story and answer the Committee’s questions about your Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels and streaming services.”…

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/08/12/congress/raskin-writes-to-ellison-01035234

 

Court ruling freezes Paramount-Warner Bros. merger for now : NPR

In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a 14-day temporary restraining order to pause the acquisition. The Democratic attorneys general allege that Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. would reduce competition, hurting filmgoers along with TV and news consumers and especially those who create entertainment programming and the news content that the public relies on… 

 "This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement issued to the press…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/20/nx-s1-5900888/paramount-wbd-tro-restraining-lawsuit

FCC Officials Took Gifts From Paramount While It Had Business Before Them — ProPublica

Expensive Gifts: Despite regulating broadcast media, FCC commissioners have accepted pricey tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala from CBS or its parent company, now Paramount. 

Conflict of Interest: Ethics experts say that by accepting the gifts, FCC commissioners are compromising the agency’s impartiality and should avoid acting on Paramount’s pending merger. 

Mixing Business and Pleasure: After voting for a Paramount merger, Commissioner Olivia Trusty took tickets worth over $12,000. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has accepted tickets worth at least $63,000...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/paramount-mergers-fcc-kennedy-center-gala 

California, 11 other states sue to block Paramount’s Warner Bros. deal - POLITICO

“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 said in a statement, adding that media consolidation in California, the epicenter of the entertainment industry, “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.”…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/13/states-sue-block-paramount-warner-bros-00994835

Trump's Scheme to Control the Media

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41yJed1Kui8

 

The FCC’s blatant disregard for the law cannot continue.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bDKknUvK1w0

 

What is going on with the Warner Brothers-Paramount deal?!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JuSUNB0AM2Y

 

The Merger That Needed A War

Yesterday Oracle got authorization to run generative AI on federal government data. The highest civilian security clearance + Department of Defense clearance + Medicare records + Military systems.

https://youtu.be/-TlYoVsW5ko?si=wJBpIv5YPXmZGwU6

 

CBS News and CNN staffers fear ‘disaster’ as Paramount wins Warner Bros battle

Weiss, a conservative commentator turned media entrepreneur with no previous television industry experience, has had an uneven tenure at CBS since she was appointed editor-in-chief last October. Her path to the job was paved by concessions that David Ellison and his Skydance Media made to gain the support of Trump-picked regulators to acquire Paramount. 

"A Paramount WBD merger is a disaster for the people who work at both companies, and if Bari Weiss takes control of CNN, it will be the end of the global network Ted Turner founded," one concerned CNN producer – who was not authorized to comment – told the Guardian. "I don't think that's hyperbolic."…

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/27/cbs-news-cnn-paramount-warner-bros-employees

  

Jared Kushner is at the heart of the Paramount-WBD bid

Paramount left out a significant fact in the press release announcing its offer: the bid includes funding from the private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, as well as three Arab monarchies, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which collectively have billions of dollars in ongoing ventures involving the Trump family business. Those details were buried in required paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/11/jared-kushner-paramount-warner-bros-deal

 

Netflix faces consumer class-action lawsuit over $72bn Warner Bros deal

The proposed class action was filed on Monday by a subscriber to Warner Bros-owned HBO Max who said the proposed deal threatened to reduce competition in the US subscription video-on-demand market...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/09/netflix-consumer-lawsuit-warner-bros-deal

 

MAGA influencers urge Trump to kill Netflix deal over streamer’s Obama ties - The Washington Post

As the Trump administration eyes dueling bids by Netflix and Paramount to buy the entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery, a cadre of right-wing influencers are launching broadsides against Netflix for its ties to former president Barack Obama...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/09/netflix-obama-loomer-posobiec-trump/

 

‘This merger must be blocked’: Netflix-Warner Bros deal faces fierce backlash

"The world's largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent," the statement read. "The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers. Industry workers along with the public are already impacted by only a few powerful companies maintaining tight control over what consumers can watch on television, on streaming, and in theaters. This merger must be blocked."…

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/05/netflix-warner-bros-deal-backlash 

Larry Ellison discussed axing CNN hosts with White House in takeover bid talks

Ellison often speaks to connections at the White House but, in at least one of the calls, engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, the people said. 

The conversation also touched on floating names to replace Burnett and the possibility of running CBS assets like its flagship 60 minutes program on CNN air – proposals that have animated the White House, the people said...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/20/warner-bros-discovery-takeover-paramount-skydance-larry-ellison

 

If Paramount Skydance buys up Warner Bros, most shows you watch will be owned by the same company

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dnzo6IGonoE

 

Jake Tapper reveals another wrinkle in the Kimmel saga

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SR8S5uY5dbM

 

U.S. Steel-Nippon deal includes "golden share" giving Trump power to approve big corporate changes - CBS News

The president has the authority to name one of the corporate board's independent three directors and can veto the other two choices, the Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the terms of the agreement who insisted on anonymity to discuss them. The details of the board structure were first reported by The New York Times...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-steel-golden-share-trump-approval-relocation-jobs-nippon/ 

 

Trump is approving an anti-competitive merger that will cost you money - Vox

But he seems to have made money off the deal personally.....
https://www.vox.com/2019/7/29/8932025/trump-sprint-tmobile-hotel

White House Refuses to Turn Over AT&T-Time Warner Records - Variety

The White House is refusing to turn over records of communications related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger after House Democrats demanded such information, prompted by New Yorker report that President Trump had ordered advisers to pressure the Justice Department to block the deal. ....
https://variety.com/2019/politics/news/white-house-att-time-warner-records-democrats-1203191050/

Elizabeth Warren Was Right: New Law Is Already Making Banks Bigger - The Intercept

Bipartisan backers of a bill last year swore that it was only helping little tiny banks. Elizabeth Warren warned it was a Trojan horse...
https://theintercept.com/2019/02/08/elizabeth-warren-was-right-new-law-is-already-making-banks-bigger/