A prominent US Republican has weighed in on the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war, warning Trump administration officials that Netflix’s potential acquisition of WBD’s HBO Max and its entertainment studios “raises antitrust concerns that could harm consumers.”
Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent a letter dated November 13 to Attorney General Pam Bondi, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, and Assistant Attorney General Gayle Slater, Antitrust Division, Justice Department. Variety magazine has seen a copy of the letter.
Last month, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it had received inbound acquisition interest from “multiple parties” and had begun the process of considering such offers. David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is known to have made a bid for the entire WBD company, while Netflix and Comcast are finalizing bids for the company’s streaming and studio operations. Warner Bros. Discovery has set a Nov. 20 deadline for a “non-binding first round bid,” and the company aims to complete the process by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Issa’s letter reads: “We are writing regarding recent and continuing reports that Netflix is considering acquiring the studio and streaming assets of Warner Bros. (Brothers) Discovery. As you know, Netflix is already the dominant streaming platform in the United States, and allowing it to absorb a major competitor raises antitrust concerns that could harm consumers.”
The letter continues: “With more than 300 million subscribers worldwide and a vast library of content, Netflix currently has unparalleled market power when you add in both HBO Max subscribers and Warner Bros.” Rights to premium content will further strengthen this position, with the combined entity reportedly having over 30 percent of the streaming market share, a threshold that has traditionally been problematic under antitrust law. ”
Netflix will stop disclosing subscriber numbers in early 2025 as sub-growth rates begin to slow and investors want to focus more on financial and user engagement metrics. In its latest announcement, the company describes itself as “one of the world’s leading entertainment services, with more than 300 million paid members in more than 190 countries enjoying TV series, movies and games in a variety of genres and languages.”
WBD ended Q3 2025 with 128 million streaming subscribers, an increase of 2.3 million subscribers from Q2. These include customers of HBO Max, Discovery+ and its sports streaming services.
“Even more concerning is that this consolidation would also reduce incentives for new content and large-scale theatrical release, as evidenced by Netflix’s own statements disparaging movie theaters as ‘obsolete,’ which could undermine opportunities for all industry professionals both in front of and behind the camera,” Issa wrote in a letter to Trump administration officials.
Issa was referring to comments made by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at an industry conference earlier this year, in which he called movie theaters an “outdated concept.”
At the Time 100 Summit in April, Sarandos said, “People have grown up thinking, ‘You want to make a movie on a huge screen and have strangers see it (and play it) in theaters for two months. And people cry and the screenings are sold out…That’s an outdated concept.'” He also called the communal moviegoing experience an “outdated idea” and said, “If you’re lucky enough to live in Manhattan and you can walk to a multiplex to see a movie, that’s great. In most parts of the country, you can’t do that.”
“We appreciate the administration’s determined efforts to promote competitive markets and establish a record of regulatory common sense. We urge you to continue protecting America’s vital industries, increasing consumer choice, and protecting important American jobs,” Issa’s Nov. 13 letter concluded.
Netflix declined to comment. A representative for Warner Bros. Discovery did not respond to a request for comment.
It’s ironic that Netflix is in a position to buy Warner Bros., 15 years after then-Time Warner president Jeff Bewkes derided the streamer as an “Albanian army.” Bewkes expressed skepticism about Netflix’s influence at the time, telling The New York Times, “It feels like the Albanian army is going to take over the world. I don’t think so.”
