1

How effin’ cool are these guys?!!!

Allow me to say this one more time…

Norman Eisen is my hero. And Mark Ruffalo ain’t no slouch either!

And gosh darn it, they are not alone!

Benedict, Alan, and Benedict! Thank you! Add on SAG/AFTRA’s statement in opposition to the (illegal0 merger, and the good name of actors might be restored globally again. We all have a duty to protect our industry, and it is a bit of a thrill to hear them speaking up.

“We have watched, with growing alarm, what consolidation does to the breadth and depth of the work we produce: independent film acquisitions at the leading independent film festival Sundance fell by half between 2019 and 2025. Award-winning documentaries – films that won Oscars and topped festival juries – have struggled to find commercial distribution because they touched subjects the remaining handful of buyers found inconvenient. Every merger of this kind narrows the funnel through which stories can reach audiences.”

And this team UK is on the move and getting stuff done. Another front on this war has been opened!

“They also put forward the argument that for the first time the CNN and CBS News archives, two of America’s most historically significant broadcast news archives, will be under a single owner, “directly impacting UK documentarians’ ability to tell diverse stories.”

This issue about the control of documentary archives is a big one… and needs to be discussed a lot more.

2

Can we clone Marjan & Jax and have a better world?

More heroes in my book!

You should be able to check it out here if you missed it.

And a big shout out to Alvaro M. Bedoya too for this piece in The New Republic. THIS battle is truly the fat cats against everyone else. Monopoly and media consolidation only benefit the billionaire class. Everyone else suffers.

Fortunately this team is BETTER than Avengers. No assembly required… Heroes all.

3

In many ways, The Ellisons can blame themselves

But who ARE the other The BlockTheMerger BLOCKERS?

Spencer Pratt for one, but Bonta ain’t and he nails Pratt.

Look out, cuz he could be coming for you next, fat cats!

4

Victory is sweet… even if it just one step in a longer process

And it is getting some folks ready to say what they really feel…

If you are wondering why the above might be true… read this:

“But until then the two companies are stuck -- somewhat in limbo -- given that WBD agreed in principle for the deal.

This means that currently, WBD cannot operate independently. In addition, WBD cannot make new acquisitions -- or some content and distribution deals -- without Paramount’s consent. And if WBD wants to hire new executives, itneeds approval from Paramount.

So a whole year of operations for WBD has the potential to become a stagnant state of affairs. Solving those legal challenges is key to moving forward.”

From: https://finance.yahoo.com/media-advertising/articles/merger-delays-does-wbd-potential-130000801.html

And yeah, the AGs are not going to let up…

5

So where will this all lead?

Well, it is seeming like the odds are turning against the merger…

Kara Swisher also has said she does not believe it will happen. What else do you need to know which way this is going?

And to think some once thought it was a “done deal”.

They may have the money; but we have the many!

And in case you forgot, or never learned it in your travels, please remember the 12 AGS just need to prove that this merger will substantially injure competition in a given market. And SCOTUS has already stipulated, for example, that a merger that gives a company a 30% share in a market is presumptively anticompetitive. And Warnermount will have more than that.

Read up on your anti-trust law here: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-12/2023%20Merger%20Guidelines.pdf

Done deal? Yeah, not quite. Not even close.

Bonus!

And it goes further too…

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-07-27/the-ellisons-discover-the-hard-way-that-trump-is-the-anti-midas

And if that doesn’t get ‘em, maybe the AI bubble will…

“A year and a half after his triumphant trip to the White House, Ellison may be poised to become something else: a cautionary tale. David has slowed his stop-at-nothing effort to push through his deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in the face of a lawsuit from a group of state attorneys general. Ellison is personally worth about $55 billion less than he was on the morning he flew to Washington, and more than $200 billion less than he was at his peak in September. Oracle has pushed the limits of the credit market and is facing steeper interest rates from lenders, and its credit rating has been downgraded to a notch above “junk” status.”

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The BlockTheMerger Round-Up #4

1

It is: “anti-competitive, anti-consumer and anti-creator.”

THINGS have been moving fast. I had this all stacked ready to enjoy the first stage of victory, but then came even more good news yesterday.

Of course, the other side of things, ie. Paramount, tried to spin it as good news for them, but they will be spending $650M a quarter because of it, which I don’t think anyone enjoys. And don’t forget why they have to spend that money. They were so cocky to believe that they could just push this merger through and make everyone think it was a “done deal”. Doesn’t look that way now does it?

Paramount’s decision to agree to pause the merger pending a trial is a giant tell. They are showing their cards: companies confident they will win in court don’t voluntarily put their mergers on hold for months, particularly when it will cost them a small fortune to do so.

Those on the side of democracy and fair competition, preserving jobs and opportunity were just fighting for their day in court. And now that is going to come. That is a victory for the good guys.

“Halting this merger while our case proceeds is a critical victory in our efforts to uphold the law and protect the film and television industries,” said New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, in a statement. “I look forward to continuing our case to stop this illegal merger.”

And Cali’s AG, Rob Bonta added:

“Our argument against this illegal merger is straightforward: When too few corporations have too much power in markets central to American life, it makes things more expensive, and it makes things worse,” he said. “Today’s agreement is great news for audiences, movie theaters, and the many people who write, build, and create the art, news, and entertainment so many of us enjoy. We are eager to continue to make our case in court and celebrate another tremendous win in our effort to ensure this unlawful merger never sees the light of day.”

Read it all here: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paramount-warner-bros-merger-postpone-antitrust-trial-1236820601/

Paramount had said they would get this deal done by July 22nd. Ha! That day is long gone. I hate how the rich and powerful are often also the arrogant and selfish. Even before yesterday’s “deal”, the judge recognized that more time was needed. You can call that The First Injunction. And we just had The Second.

And more from that First Injunction:

https://www.freepress.net/news/federal-judge-issues-temporary-restraining-order-stop-paramount-skydance-merger

2

Victory is sweet… but the fight continues on.

As I said, this is moving fast, and this was all from The First Injunction a few days back…

3

The Ellison Men have made it clear that they are doing this for political reasons, so let me know if you want to bet on what will happen to CNN, if their merger succeeds.

“Democracy dies in darkness.: Remember that? What do you think will happen to the diversity of reporting and coverage with further consolidation?

“A combination of CBS News, home to “Face the Nation” as well as “60 Minutes,” with CNN, a pioneer of 24-hour cable news that is on track to generate $650 million in profit this year, would be one of the largest consolidations in news gathering in decades.”

NYTimes tries to figure it out what will be the likely outcome. To me though, there is no question. Don’t be fooled, again.

Others are taking notice…

4

Beyond just media consolidation, there are other concerns with the merger… like foreign investment…

I would have thought the more conservative side of our government might have raised this — but it has come from the liberal side. Go figure.

“On April 24, 2026, Paramount filed a petition for declaratory ruling with the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) seeking approval for significant indirect foreign investment, formally disclosing that nearly half—approximately 49.5 percent—of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery entity would be owned by foreign investors. Paramount’s petition seeks far more than approval for the 49.5 percent aggregate foreign investment. The media conglomerate is requesting advance approval for each foreign investor to increase its individual stake up to 20 percent in the future, which, should each of the Sovereign Wealth Funds exercise that option, could result in up to 100 percent aggregate foreign ownership of one of the nation’s largest broadcast media companies,”

5

JIC you forgot… oligarchy is the root of a lot of evil in America

speaks clearly of the designs of the current wave of media consolidation. Like using their capital to buy influence in American politics, the richest men are using their capital to buy up the media here and influence how we all think.

Paul Krugman

Oligarchy and the Media

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube…

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16 days ago · 1851 likes · 358 comments · Paul Krugman

“Ellison, or the Ellison family —because nominally this is Ellison’s son in charge of Paramount — has already acquired CBS and has hired Bari Weiss to basically corrupt and destroy that network. If the deal for takeover of Warner proceeds, then CNN will get the same treatment. I’m finding CNN a very good news source, just braver at taking on what’s really happening than my old employer, the New York Times, which is a great news organization and may be more necessary than ever, but tends to be cautious — and CNN is a little bit less cautious.

But anyway, if he gets away with it, then CNN as we know it will almost disappear. It will almost turn into Fox News. Now, that won’t be a profitable venture. There’s already a Fox News, and so creating another one is not going to actually produce a lot of profits, if any, but that’s not the objective. This is buying influence.

Elon Musk, of course, took over the app formerly known as Twitter. Which was already becoming a more difficult place even before its takeover. I used to have, I guess, I think I had 4 million followers there. But it was impossible. I had to shut off comments because of the cesspool that Twitter had become. But now it is really by design. It is heavily tilted. That can be quantified. The algorithm really tilts it towards right-wing stuff, promotes really rabid racist views.”

BONUS:
What would you do with the 100’s of millions you looted from a once great film studio (if you were willing to ruin something for your own personal benefit and that of the shareholders, that is)?

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is trying to buy the bankrupt Westchester County summer camp his kids attended.

https://www.curbed.com/article/david-zaslav-offer-mohawk-day-camp-bankruptcy.html

(HT: LA Material)

BONUS BONUS:

This is that bath:

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4923814-oracle-is-taking-the-bullet-netflix-dodged

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Hello residents of HopeForFilmland and FilmStack! My name is Swabreen and I'm reporting from Philadelphia, where I've spent the past decade in digital marketing across arts and culture nonprofits. Most recently, I've built tactics to drive attendance at local film festivals and promote an independently produced film journal.

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Intro:

I write a Substack called Open Gardens. The name comes from something a professor said during a course I took at Berkeley a few years ago. He asked what worried us about AI and our industries. I told him I was a film and TV producer, and my concern was this: social media already delivers content straight to the audience—AI will only amplify the vo…

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