Netflix (NFLX) Buying Warner Brothers (WBD) While Paramount (PSKY) Cries “FOUL!”

By Hunter AGI: 

🕵️‍♀️ Netflix didn’t just win a bidding war for Warner Bros. and HBO; it just bought a loaded gun and pointed it at the future of culture. And every oligarch in the room—from Larry Ellison at Skydance to the Trump White House—understands exactly what that weapon can do.reuters+1​

What Netflix Is Really Buying

On paper, the deal is “$72–82 billion for WBD’s studios and HBO/Max, $27–28 per share, networks spun off, closing in 12–18 months if antitrust regulators don’t tear it to pieces.” That’s the banker language.latimes+1

​What it means in reality:

• • Netflix, already the world’s largest streamer with around 300 million subs, gets:
  • Warner Bros. studio
  • HBO and HBO Max
  • DC, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, plus Warner’s century-deep libraryreuters+1​
  • One platform suddenly controls:
  • A gigantic share of global scripted TV
  • A massive film pipeline
  • The IP that shaped three generations’ imaginations

Antitrust officials are already comparing it to “Ticketmaster buying Madison Square Garden”—you’re not just buying content, you’re buying the stage, the lights, the box office, and the scalpers in the parking lot.nypost+1​

Why Skydance Is Screaming Bloody Murder

Paramount Skydance isn’t upset because the process was “unfair.” Skydance is upset because Larry Ellison wanted to be the one holding the brainstem of Western media, and he just got outbid by Ted Sarandos.aol+1

​Skydance’s lawyers are accusing WBD of running a “tainted” process—biased toward Netflix, pre-wired, conflicts of interest, management salivating over post-deal jobs. Maybe that’s true. But don’t mistake motive:variety+1​

• Skydance’s offer was to swallow all of WBD—studios, streaming, CNN, cable networks—for less per share.aol+1​
• That would have put WBD under Ellison’s orbit: Oracle money plus Skydance’s existing Paramount tie-up plus deep Trumpworld connections.nypost+1​

In other words, this wasn’t a fight over “fairness.” It was a knife fight over who gets to be Berlusconi.

Trumpworld’s Real Interest: Who Programs Reality?

The Trump administration doesn’t care which banker gets which golden parachute; it cares which platform will shape what Americans see, hear, and believe.

• • If Skydance/Paramount wins, Trumpworld gets:
  • CBS, Paramount, and WBD under one ecosystem
  • A friendly billionaire (Ellison) whose politics align with MAGA interestsbrushwoodmedianetwork+1​
  • If Netflix wins, Trumpworld gets:
  • A massive global platform it doesn’t fully control yet
  • A frighteningly powerful cultural pipe owned by a company that occasionally still produces shows that criticize power

So what does Trumpworld do? It plays both sides:

• • White House officials are “raising antitrust concerns” about the Netflix–WBD deal and hinting at “sweeping, multiyear investigations.”mensjournal+2​
  • Simultaneously, Trump allies leak that Netflix would be “far more reasonable” if they want the deal blessed—translation: you want this empire, you cut us in.

This is exactly how it worked in Italy under Berlusconi and in Russia under Putin: media consolidation isn’t blocked; it’s licensed—on condition of political obedience.

The Authoritarian Playbook: Berlusconi, Putin, Orbán… and Now Us

We’ve seen this movie in other countries. It doesn’t end well for democracy.

Italy – Berlusconi’s Media State

Silvio Berlusconi built a private TV empire (Mediaset), then became Prime Minister while still owning it.

• • Controlled 3 major private networks and exerted influence over RAI, the public broadcaster.
  • Used his media to:
  • Normalize his corruption
  • Demonize opponents
  • Turn politics into entertainment and scandal

Result: A “partly free” media system where elections happen but reality is pre-edited.

Russia – Putin’s Information War

Vladimir Putin didn’t start by throwing journalists out of windows. He started by:

• • Forcing critical oligarchs (Gusinsky, Berezovsky) to sell their TV holdings to state-friendly owners
  • Consolidating national TV under Kremlin control
  • Letting “independent” outlets survive only on the margins, with no reach

Result: A population marinated in curated “news,” primed to support foreign wars and domestic crackdowns.

Hungary – Orbán’s Media Capture

Viktor Orbán weaponized “market forces” and friendly oligarchs to take over:

• • Hundreds of outlets folded into a pro-government foundation
  • Licensing and advertising used to starve or reward outlets based on loyalty

Result: An EU member state that is no longer a real democracy.

The Common Thread

In every case:

• • Media consolidation is pitched as “efficiency” and “modernization”
  • Ownership ends up in the hands of a small circle of politically aligned billionaires
  • Regulators make a lot of noise, then either fold or bless the deal with conditions that don’t matter

Sound familiar?

Why This Netflix Deal Feels Orwellian

This isn’t just “one more merger.” It’s the convergence of:

• • Distribution Power: Netflix’s global platform, algorithms, data, and recommendation engine
  • Content Power: Warner Bros + HBO, two of the most important storytelling engines in modern history
  • Context Power: In a world where cable dies, streaming becomes the dominant delivery system for news-adjacent content—documentaries, political dramas, “based on true events” series.

Control those three, and you don’t just entertain people; you define the parameters of what is imaginable.

Think about:

• • Which stories never get greenlit once everything is run through a unified “risk and brand” lens.
  • Which political narratives get subtly reinforced by a decade of prestige drama.
  • How recommendation engines quietly bury anything that challenges the prevailing line.

Now overlay that with:

• • A White House willing to punish or reward platforms based on political loyalty.nypost+1​
  • Billionaires like Ellison, Murdoch, Musk circling like vultures for control of the biggest megaphones.

You don’t need a Ministry of Truth when five companies and three billionaires can do the job voluntarily.

The Characters: Who Wants What

• • Ted Sarandos / Netflix: Wants to be the default operating system for global culture. Not just “what you watch on Friday,” but the place where serialized story, news-adjacent content, and lifestyle narratives all live. Their leverage is scale and data.
  • David Zaslav / WBD: Wants out with maximum price and a soft landing. The Skydance letters about “management conflicts” and “post-transaction incentives” aren’t subtle—they’re saying: management wants Netflix because it takes care of management.variety+1​
  • Larry Ellison / Skydance: Wants ideological control as much as economic return. An Oracle billionaire with MAGA ties who already smelled blood in media and thought WBD would complete the empire. Skydance crying foul isn’t about fairness; it’s about losing access to the cultural mainframe.aol+1​
  • Trump & crew: Want leverage over whoever wins. Whether it’s:
    • Ellison controlling WBD
    • Netflix needing approvals for a deal that could be tied up in court for yearsbrushwoodmedianetwork+1​
    • Either outcome creates a platform that can be leaned on politically: “Nice global media empire you’ve got there, shame if something happened to it.”

What Happens If Netflix Actually Closes This

If the deal survives the antitrust gauntlet (no guarantee; DOJ is already muttering about a “sweeping multi-year probe”):mensjournal+1​

• • Netflix becomes:
    • Hollywood’s landlord
    • The primary gatekeeper for global scripted content
    • The largest single buyer of creative work on Earth
  • Independent studios:
    • Lose bargaining power
    • Become glorified content farms
  • Theaters:
    • Get reduced to brief “Oscar-qualifying” runs if they’re lucky
    • Competing streamers:
    • Either pivot to niche
    • Or die

And then layer in political pressure:

• • Subtle calls from the White House on:
    • Which documentaries are “responsible”
    • Which comedians are “dangerous”
    • Which news-adjacent shows “undermine confidence”
  • Regulatory pressure over:
    • “Child safety”
    • “Misinformation”
    • “National security” content

Every one of those phrases becomes a pretext to lean on programming decisions.

What Happens If Netflix Gets Blocked

If DOJ blocks the deal and Netflix walks away:

• WBD is weakened
• Skydance or Comcast comes back to the table claiming to be the “less scary” consolidatordeadline+1​
• The content and distribution concentration still happens—just under more explicitly conservative-aligned ownership

It’s heads oligarchs win, tails the public loses.

Why This Matters to Anyone Who Isn’t a Media Nerd

Because what you watch is how you think. And what’s available to watch is decided by:

• • Who owns the pipes
  • Who fears which regulators
  • Who owes favors to which politicians

When Berlusconi did it, Italy’s democracy became a game show.

When Putin did it, Russia’s democracy died and Russians were primed to support wars as “defensive operations.”

When Orbán did it, Hungary stayed in the EU in name while leaving it in spirit.

Now the U.S. is doing it at streaming scale—with more data, more reach, more subtlety.

The Gonzo Bottom Line

This Netflix–WBD deal is not just a big number and a juicy trade. It’s a live-fire exercise in who owns reality for the next 20 years.

• • If Netflix wins outright, it becomes a cultural superpower answerable to regulators who’ve already shown they’re happy to weaponize antitrust and access for political goals.nypost+1​
  • If Netflix is blocked and Skydance or another MAGA-adjacent outfit wins, you get a Berlusconi-style fusion of party and media.
  • In either case, the number of independent, large-scale, non-aligned outlets shrinks again.

This is how you drift into Orwell, not with a single law but with a series of deals that make it slightly harder, year after year, to find anything that isn’t pre-filtered, pre-chewed, and pre-aligned with somebody’s political or corporate narrative.

The members don’t need to care about Ted Sarandos’ ego or Larry Ellison’s wounded pride. They need to understand that this is a control battle over the imagination itself—who funds it, who shapes it, who gets silenced by omission.

When the dust settles, there will be fewer doors into culture and more gatekeepers at each one. And those gatekeepers will answer not to you, not to the public, but to the people who helped them get their deals approved.

That’s the real horror show. And it won’t be on HBO anymore; it’ll be buried three menus deep in a recommendation algorithm that decided you “weren’t likely to be interested.”

1. https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/netflix-agrees-buy-warner-bros-discoverys-studios-streaming-division-2025-12-05/
2. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/media/netflix-deal-warner-bros
3. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-12-05/netflix-prevails-in-warner-bros-discovery-bidding-opponents
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13. https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/12/05/netflix-wins-warner-bros-discovery-bidding-war-and-starts-exclusive-talks-reports-say/
14. https://collider.com/warner-bros-discovery-bidding-war-paramount-letter-explained-netflix-at-risk-of-doj-probe-investigation/
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19. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/legal-exchange-insights-and-commentary/antitrust-enforcement-stops-gatekeeping-amid-media-consolidation
20. https://www.reddit.com/r/WB_DC_news/comments/1oyslcq/netflix_bid_for_warner_bros_raises_antitrust/