Less than a month after Republican senators told Ted Sarandos to his face that Netflix makes “the wokest content in the history of the world“, the GOP’s attorneys general continue the wider Republican strategy to thwart Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Yesterday, 11 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi today, warning the government against approving the deal. “We, the undersigned Attorneys General, write to express our concerns that the proposed merger between Netflix and Warner Brothers will likely result in undue market concentration that stifles competition and therefore creates higher prices, lower reliability, and less innovation for one of America’s major industries — all to the detriment of American consumers,” the unfortunately correct letter reads.
Worried that Netflix’s acquisition would eliminate competitors and foreclose a content library “crucial to competitors,” the deal could create a “monopoly that will charge the State’s citizens higher subscription prices for less content of reduced quality.” The letter points to Saradnos’ own words, which he probably regrets, that argue movie theaters are an “outdated concept” and an “outmoded idea.” The AGs, again surprisingly, claim that this could “subvert Warner Brothers’ current model” and would “be a blow to the exhibition community.”
While it’d be easy to hand it to them (and no, you definitely do not need to hand it to them) for proving the broken clock principle, the attacks come as part of a larger Republican-led assault against Netflix. Aside from the congressional grilling that Sarandos faced in early February, the Justice Department launched a formal antitrust probe into Netflix, and, only hours ago, Senator Lindsey Graham brought Paramount CEO David Ellison to the State of the Union as his guest. Of course, Paramount’s absorption of another Hollywood studio should also prompt antitrust investigations, but because the president is a “good friend” of Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, who is backing Paramount’s bid for the studio, that has yet to materialize. Presumably, Trump is also excited by the prospect of a CBS-style takeover of CNN, which Paramount would own if it wins the bake-off. While we might appreciate the GOP’s aversion to Netflix’s monopolization of the movie business, we would welcome an even more unbiased approach.
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