Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix are bidding to buy Warner Bros Discovery, Reuters reported on Thursday, but each company’s bid faces its own political and regulatory risks.
Factors to watch include market share imbalances that each bidder could generate, investor reaction and public comments by US President Donald Trump or his administration about each company.
The White House could not immediately be reached for comment.
Political risk
Paramount Skydance
Paramount could have an advantage because of its White House connections and the significant capital that the world’s second-richest person, Larry Ellison, can bring to Warner Bros. Discovery to close the deal. His son, Paramount CEO David Ellison, is in Trump’s favor, which could help clear regulatory hurdles.
Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Richard Blumenthal fear that approval of the deal could be tainted by political favoritism, citing a $16 million donation from Paramount Global to Trump’s Presidential Library. The payment, made before a merger with Skydance that put Ellison at the helm of the media company, settled a lawsuit Trump filed over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview.
Still, if the offering includes foreign investors, the size of their potential stake could trigger a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The merger of the Paramount and Warner Bros. cable television networks could raise market concentration concerns for the Justice Department.
Outside the United States, regulators would also intervene under foreign direct investment regimes, while European authorities would examine media plurality rules given the combination of CNN and CBS.
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Comcast
The Philadelphia-based cable giant faces a different political climate. Trump has repeatedly denigrated the company over NBC’s coverage of his second term, calling it “Concast,” and criticized its president, Brian Roberts.
That hostility could complicate the Justice Department’s position, although any opposition would have to be based on legal grounds and competition concerns, not White House preferences.
The Justice Department attempted to block AT&T’s $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, whose CNN attracted Trump’s ire during his first term in the White House. A federal judge finally cleared the way for the agreement in 2018.
Netflix
The streaming leader has his own potential political fights. In October 2025, the Pentagon criticized “Boots,” a series about a gay Marine, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix, whose leadership constantly produces and feeds woke garbage to its audience and children,” a Defense Department representative said.
Even before the bids were submitted, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Rep. Darrell Issa warned that allowing Netflix to take control of the company would give it the rights to content from HBO Max and Warner Bros., which they said could raise prices and reduce choice for consumers.
Market dominance, however, is in the eye of the beholder. YouTube accounts for more television viewing time in the United States than its closest rival, Netflix, according to Nielsen.
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Competition and antitrust risks
Given prior practice, the Justice Department is likely to monitor any deal from an antitrust perspective. Warner Bros. Discovery does not own broadcast television assets and, as a result, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr likely does not have jurisdiction.
Paramount Skydance
A merger with Warner Bros Discovery would unite two major Hollywood studios, two streaming platforms (HBO Max and Paramount+) and two news operations (CNN and CBS). Exhibitors will likely worry about the number of films making it to theaters, as Comscore estimates the combined entity would control 32% of the U.S. and Canadian box office, based on 2025 revenues.
The creative community could also face fewer employment options if fewer films are produced or if, for example, CBS News and CNN were combined. The concentration of sports rights — CBS and TNT under one roof — could potentially increase prices for consumers.
Comcast
Combining Universal Pictures with Warner Bros. Studios would create an even bigger movie powerhouse, accounting for more than 43% of the North American box office, according to Comscore. That level of market share could alarm regulators and exhibitors, raising questions about dwindling opportunities for filmmakers and talent.
The Justice Department would need to evaluate whether such consolidation harms competition in film distribution. During Trump’s first term, the DOJ approved a deal of similar size: Walt Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which united two movie studios that at the time accounted for a combined 38% of the domestic box office, according to Comscore.
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Netflix
The streaming leader’s offer would not affect theatrical releases, but it would reshape the subscription video market. (Netflix will continue to distribute movies in theaters, a source familiar with the matter said, confirming a Bloomberg report.) Adding HBO Max’s 128 million subscribers to Netflix’s more than 300 million would create a formidable player.
Regulators may ask whether such scale limits consumer choice, although the definition of the market is up for debate: YouTube, TikTok and other platforms command significant viewing time. The Justice Department would have to decide whether Netflix’s dominance constitutes a threat to competition or simply reflects evolving consumer habits.
With information from Reuters.
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