Block The Merger RoundUp #5
There's so much going on, every single day... but perhaps we can help you keep up?
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…
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.”
Thank you for all your information and news about the film industry. There are so many things in the news cycle and these things fall to the bottom.
Ted: Maybe, just maybe, this will be a case of the interests of the nimble little people winning out over those of the lumbering giants.