The Writers Guild of America strongly opposed a merger between Warner Bros. and another studio Thursday, saying such a merger would be a “disaster” for writers.
The statement comes two days after Warner Bros. said it was considering “multiple offers.” Paramount, newly acquired by David Ellison’s Skydance, is the most enthusiastic suitor. A deal with another content creator would reduce the number of buyers in the market.
“Merger after merger in the media industry has harmed workers, reduced competition and free speech, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars that could be invested in growth,” WGA East-West said in a statement Thursday. “A merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount or any other major studio or streamer would be a disaster for writers, consumers and competition. WGAW and WGAE will work with regulators to block the merger.”
The WGA has a long record of opposing industry mergers. He opposed the failed merger of Dish and DirecTV in 2002.
In 2011, the union tried to block the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger, warning that the media landscape was already too integrated. The union also warned that Comcast could use its control over cable distribution to favor its own content.
The WGA also raised concerns about “net neutrality” in its opposition to the AT&T-Time Warner merger announced in 2016.
When the merger was approved in 2018, WGA East said, “At a time when this country demands and needs the widest possible range of views, stories and voices, we have handed over the keys to the media kingdom to a giant corporation whose sole motive is to maximize short-term investment returns, not to inform, educate or entertain.”
The union also opposed the 2017 Disney-Fox merger and the 2021 Amazon-MGM merger. The union blasted the 2022 Warner Bros.-Discovery merger that would invalidate the AT&T merger years ago, calling it “a clear disaster for content creators who have lost jobs and potential employers, and for consumers who now face a poorer and less diverse content landscape.”
The union is also calling for stronger antitrust enforcement. In 2023, the union has warned that Disney, Netflix and Amazon are poised to become the industry’s “new gatekeepers”.
