“Six months ago, Trump ally David Ellison took control of CBS News and went to remake the network’s newsroom to churn out MAGA-friendly right-wing content, going so far as to install a handsomely paid government-secured monitor. Yesterday, with Trump’s help, Ellison moved a big step closer to giving CNN its own total MAGA makeover and transformation.
“When Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company announced it was putting itself up for sale, President Trump promised he’d be ‘involved,’ adding he felt ‘the people that have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace’ and that he believed it was ‘imperative that CNN be sold.’ Ellison quickly volunteered for the assignment, assuring Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to the targeted CNN. For months, Netflix thwarted Ellison’s efforts by offering Warner Bros. a better deal—that is, until yesterday. Suddenly, Netflix’s CEO was summoned to the White House for a mystery closed-door meeting. He emerged and announced Netflix was pulling its bid, leaving Warner Bros. with a single buyer: David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance.
“Netflix’s surprise announcement comes just two weeks after the White House ousted the insufficiently pliant and docile leadership of DOJ’s Antitrust Division. This comes at a critical time when the deal requires meticulous attention from antitrust leadership in the Division to thoroughly assess whether this transaction violates the antitrust laws. If the deal goes through, in addition to ingesting CNN, Paramount Skydance would add HBO and Warner Bros. studios to its massive holdings that already include TikTok, CBS, Oracle, Paramount Studios, and Skydance, leaving Americans vulnerable to higher prices and fewer choices in movies, TV shows, and streaming platforms, in addition to an even more MAGA-distorted and government-controlled media system.
“Federal agencies aren’t the only ones that can block this deal; state attorneys general have tools to enforce antitrust law too. And Congress must exercise its authority to conduct oversight over this deal—and any deal that threatens to raise prices for American consumers and give this Administration more power to silence and control the press.”
