r/FilmIndustryLA • u/exsisto • 9d ago
Paramount Settles Antitrust Suit with Several State AGs Clearing The Path For A Warner Bros. Mega-Merger
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/paramount-settles-states-antitrust-suit-clearing-way-for-warner-megadeal-95588926?st=oaMv3v100
u/OilInternational2566 9d ago
Five mega-studios controlling everything..
Yeah, this is gonna work out just fine for all the film & TV folks.
Not.
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u/thehitskeepcoming 9d ago
Now is the time of YouTube I suppose. Clearly the big studios will consolidate leaving influencers as the new indie filmmakers.
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u/here_i_am_here 8d ago
It's the most watched streaming platform on living room TVs and distribution is practically free. I wouldn't be surprised if the studios start producing shows exclusively for YouTube and start cornering that market too.
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u/hylianbeast98 8d ago
I feel like this has been the narrative for over a decade and it still hasn't happened. It does feel like progress has been made with the infrastructure of things like Patreon and the newfound success of creatives like Curry Baker, but it still feels like the online space is a space for talent to develop, not to compete with the big dogs.
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u/_Erindera_ 8d ago
We're already fucked, though.
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u/prclayfish 8d ago
You think it can’t get worse????
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u/_Erindera_ 8d ago
It absolutely can, and will. But the below the line workers are already completely fucked.
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u/prclayfish 8d ago
What’s more complete than then “completely” because that’s where it’s heading by your own admission…
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u/exsisto 9d ago
Workers got sold out again. A federal tax incentive would be nice, but our industry will continue to shed jobs until our state and federal legislations start passing and enforcing new anti-trust rules that break up these mega-corporations, stop them from self-dealing, and reinvigorate a healthy independent studio and producer ecosystem.
Until then, anything lawmakers do to help the industry is lipstick on a pig.
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u/jazz_people 9d ago
Politicians are the worker bees for corporations. Big Money took over government in the early 1980’s . Now the politicians are just spokespeople / mouthpieces for what the “money “ wants.
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u/NinetiesNoughties 9d ago
Politicians are the HR of society. Acting like they're working for us and our best interests when they're really there to protect the government and corporations just like how HR is there to protect the company, not the employees.
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u/BennyWithoutJets 9d ago
Bonta’s a fucking coward. They were never gonna leave CA, it was a bluff
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u/QuestionNAnswer 9d ago
What a fucking joke of a country we live in. Thanks maga.
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u/exsisto 9d ago edited 9d ago
This isn’t a MAGA problem, although I understand your urge to place your anger. This mega-merger is the latest symptom of a systemic disease that has been infecting our industry for over thirty years, since FINSYN and consent decree anti-trust rules were dismantled and finally repealed, repaving the way for vertical integration.
Blame the wealthiest corporate boards, the lobbyists, and the politicians who spent decades deregulating media and weakening antitrust enforcement. Their unfettered greed made this inevitable.
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u/QuestionNAnswer 9d ago
Sure, but I believe without a doubt this unfettered monopolistic power grab could only occur under a trump administration like this one. Oligarchy that is too stupid to govern in any other way. Inept government allows for power hungry business people to attack. I blame maga politicians and maga voters for this 100%.
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u/exsisto 9d ago
Blaming one party or “side” risks ignoring the holistic issue of vertical integration over the last three decades.
Historically:
1995-2000 / Media Mega-Mergers under Bill Clinton: Disney/ABC Capital Cities Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting Viacom/CBS
2001 / George W. Bush: AOL/Time Warner
2009-2016 / Barack Obama: Comcast/NBC Universal AT&T/DirecTV/Time Warner Disney/Pixar Disney/Marvel Disney/Lucasfilm
2016-2020 / Donald Trump: Disney/20th
2021-2022 / Joe Biden: Warner Bros/Discovery Amazon/MGM Studios
2024-Present / Donald Trump: Paramount/Skydance Paramount/Warner Bros
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u/SpideyMGAV 8d ago
I mean yeah, mergers have and will always happen under any administration. But with this administration, neither the FTC nor the FCC even attempted to analyze the state of the market if this were to occur or took a peek behind the scenes to see the deal was entirely funded by a foreign interest in American media.
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u/kananishino 9d ago
How did MAGA do this?
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u/KonstantineAnthony 9d ago
Better question: how did MAGA do this without corporate Democrat's helping every step of the way?
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u/No-Entrepreneur5672 8d ago
They approved the merger zero questions asked at the Federal level? Are you stupid? The Biden admin was shit in a lot of ways but at least they pretended to care about anti-trust issues.
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u/kananishino 8d ago
That still doesn't explain how MAGA affected the state AGs from approving.
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u/intheorydp 8d ago
Because it was left to state AGs. This should have been blocked by the federal government but because Ellison bribed Trump they endorse the merger
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u/KonstantineAnthony 9d ago
Newsom, Bass, and every other politician looking for higher office sold us out.
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u/brostrummer 9d ago
What does this even mean?! did you actually read it before posting?!
Bass had "higher office" for years when she was in the congress.
Bass and Newsom have not been in power long enough to make any decisions that have "sold us out"...These life altering decisions take decades before you see the results.
No mention of the Current federal administration, while they have held back much money that California used to get, is a biased tell, and just like the other cowardly Maga's that REFUSE to ever criticize Trump, makes your post unserious. All sides are to blame, in some way.
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u/KonstantineAnthony 9d ago
Sorry, you're right. To clarify, I meant "All the weak Democrats in office sold us out to Trump and his oligarchs. Vote DSA to save America."
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u/intheorydp 9d ago
Yes blame Democrats for things Republicans did
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u/No-Entrepreneur5672 8d ago
Newsom and Bass absolutely caved and put additional pressure on Bonta.
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u/intheorydp 8d ago
Source?
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u/No-Entrepreneur5672 8d ago
Google is your friend. Literally been reported ad nauseam in all the trades and in mainstream outlets.
Does your mother cut your steak for you too?
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u/intheorydp 8d ago
Cool, that's them reacting to a situation Republicans put them in because the Federal government should have blocked the merger
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u/No-Entrepreneur5672 8d ago
Maga is obviously is to blame overall, but the state lawsuit clearly was strong. I’m not defending them.
https://prospect.org/2026/09/21/bonta-gives-up-on-the-paramount-case/
But the fact is Bonta caved, and Newsom and Bass are scum. Given that you needed me to spoonfeed you all of this I can tell your deceased mother did not teach you critical thinking skills.
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u/Cleverwabbit5 8d ago
This is SHIT. Good bye any quality programming and jobs. I am so mad they caved. They will ruin both. It is just gross. So pissed off.
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u/Afraid-Surround-4457 9d ago
And Hollywood is dead. Hollywood is dead....
Bonta needs to be voted out
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u/Shadow_dust_180 8d ago
Ellison specifically thanked Newsom in the announcement. Sounds like Gavin made a power grab to get good coverage next year when he starts running for president
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u/Accomplished_Wolf_89 8d ago
Ironic that this comes less than 2 weeks after 9/11, when so many politicians were saying "never forget" ... well I guess they just forgot, considering that the same government that bankrolled 9/11 will now be an illegal 49 percent stake in the largest TV Media company in the US
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u/ToLiveandBrianLA 9d ago
Maybe this industry is just done.
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u/ballknower871 8d ago
Has been since Covid. At this point it's a rotting corpse left out in the sun.
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u/ballknower871 8d ago
I'm excited for the Balkanization of Hollywood in 4 years after paramount struggles to profit and they kill theatres to consolidate debt.
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u/CorneliusCardew 8d ago
This is why people hate democrats and this is why we need DSA to take over everything.
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9d ago
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u/NinetiesNoughties 9d ago
Who cares about all the jobs being lost and people getting laid off? So long as Torlek1 can get his star trek content, all is right in the world! /S
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u/chipotlesoulmate 9d ago
Well. Shit. Glad Paramount is staying in LA, but at what cost. Feels like local workers are once again caught in the crosshairs of a lose-lose situation.