Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic have come out against the Netflix takeover of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). What did Netflix ever do to them?

Well, in the case of the US, it’s more a question of what Netflix hasn’t done for them. Because it’s never been a network, it’s never had the wherewithal to either support or reject political lines, or people. But among Trumpers, it is doubtless seen as a part of the ‘West Coast bed-wetter’ community they hate. And, more to the point, it isn’t Larry Ellison, who they like and whose son ‘runs’ the other bidder: Paramount.

But maybe it is cynical to think that the above has any impact on hard-right Senator Mike Lee’s ‘antitrust’ objections to the Netflix offer in his role as chair of the antitrust committee.

In the UK, several members of the House of Lords – home to a lot of bed-wetters both metaphorical and literal – have written to the Competition and Markets Authority concerned that Government steers to regulators to be business friendly will see the Netflix deal waved through. The Lords concerned are mainly a collection of former DCMS ministers.

There certainly are concerns about consolidation of buying points for production, and other factors like cinema release windows, on which policeable assurances should be sought. But do they really want to stop the deal? If so, they misunderstand how bad a shape WBD is in – without a deal, for how much longer will it be a buying point at all? Do they want a European company or consortium to step forward? Netflix has offered $87.2 billion, so good luck with that.

Or do they also think the Paramount alternative is better? Surely the biggest danger is the deals will see one less global player in the films and drama series segment – where European players punch their weight. The only gem in WBD’s crown is HBO, and Netflix are unlikely to close it – they’re more likely to spin it out and strengthen it as some kind of premium tier. But Paramount? No they won’t close HBO, but they are likely to have it replace their  ‘a day late and a dollar short’ Paramount+.

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Tags: netflix, paramount, Trump, WBD