Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced plans to sell Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios and streaming service HBO Max to Netflix, following a bidding war that also ended with a hostile takeover bid by Paramount. The planned sale would create a mammoth streaming and production giant with intellectual property rights to beloved franchises including Batman and Harry Potter. It’s also sure to draw scrutiny from antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Is this a step toward more viewer-friendly competition, or toward entertainment monopolization? What about Paramount’s bid? Even President Trump is concerned about the situation. But the answers aren’t obvious.
