{"id":2500446,"date":"2026-07-13T17:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2500446"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:39:19","slug":"paramount-says-states-effort-to-block-wbd-deal-will-only-harm-entertainment-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/paramount-says-states-effort-to-block-wbd-deal-will-only-harm-entertainment-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Says States&#8217; Effort To Block WBD Deal &#8220;Will Only Harm Entertainment Workers&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/paramount\/\" id=\"auto-tag_paramount\" data-tag=\"paramount\">Paramount<\/a> hit back at an <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/antitrust\/\" id=\"auto-tag_antitrust\" data-tag=\"antitrust\">antitrust<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/lawsuit\/\" id=\"auto-tag_lawsuit\" data-tag=\"lawsuit\">lawsuit<\/a> filed Monday by attorneys general of 12 states seeking to block the company\u2019s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe suit \u201creflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law,\u201d a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cWe will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace. Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe Paramount response, via a two-page press release, followed the filing of the suit, which says the merger will create an anticompetitive entity controlling too much of the pay-TV and movie studio sectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tParamount reiterated its longstanding view that the deal is pro-Hollywood. Interestingly, given that the company outmuscled Netflix in a multi-party bidding war for WBD, the statement cites Netflix twice as an example of the tech companies that have \u201ccome to dominate\u201d the industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<br \/>\u201cThe combination of Paramount and WBD will create a stronger, well-capitalized, creative-first media company that is better positioned to compete with companies like Netflix that have come to dominate the industry for audiences, premium content, and creative talent. Put simply, any attempt to block thistrans action undermines the very principles antitrust law is designed to promote: more competition, more choice for consumers, and more opportunities for creators and workers,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThe practical effect of this lawsuit is to shield those dominant streaming platforms like Netflix and technology companies from much needed competition while preventing the significant benefits this transaction will deliver for consumers, creators, workers, and the broader Hollywood economy. We will continue to fight against any attempt to derail a deal that strengthens competition, expands opportunity, and positions the combined company to compete in an increasingly competitive global media landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe action by the AGs comes as UK and European Union regulators are in the final stages of their reviews. Paramount has promised to pay a \u201cticking fee\u201d if the deal does not close by September 30.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tParamount, in its statement, pointed to approvals granted by a range of global agencies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cThe careful review undertaken by these regulators and their uniform decision to clear the transaction or<br \/>allow it to proceed contrasts sharply with the approach taken by the state attorneys general in this case,\u201d the company said. \u201cWe will fight any effort to block a merger that has clear benefits for consumers, creators, and the wider entertainment industry, and where the alternative is to entrench a failing status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source deadline.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paramount hit back at an antitrust lawsuit filed Monday by attorneys general of 12 states seeking to block the company\u2019s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The suit \u201creflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law,\u201d a Paramount spokesperson said in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2500447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[406702,23914,367252,309230,492605,483025],"class_list":["post-2500446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-antitrust","tag-lawsuit","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-paramount","tag-paramount-wbd","tag-rob-bonta"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Paramount-Says-States-Effort-To-Block-WBD-Deal-Will-Only.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500448,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500446\/revisions\/2500448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2500447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}