{"id":98972,"date":"2025-09-22T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/?post_type=cu_story&p=98972"},"modified":"2025-10-22T08:58:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:58:53","slug":"trump-paramount-warner-discovery-merger","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/trump-paramount-warner-discovery-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"A Paramount\u2013Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Could Give Trump Even More Influence Over Us Media \u2013 Shaping the News and Culture Americans Watch and Stream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n A Paramount\u2013Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Could Give Trump Even More Influence Over Us Media \u2013 Shaping the News and Culture Americans Watch and Stream\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.
Dwayne Winseck<\/a> is a professor of journalism and communication at Carleton University.


Following unprecedented threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, major affiliate station owners Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting pressured Disney\u2019s ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show off the air over his comments related to Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing<\/a>.
The cancellation is a harbinger of what could happen under a fundamental restructuring of U.S. media that will take place if the proposed Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> merger is approved by the Trump administration.
The deal, first revealed<\/a> on September 11, 2025, would erase one of the five remaining movie studios and concentrate oversight of two of the country\u2019s most prominent newsrooms \u2013 CNN and CBS, both targets of the Trump administration\u2019s ire<\/a> \u2013 under one owner with strong ties to Donald Trump.
Based on research from the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project<\/a>, our analysis shows that Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery would gain control of more than a quarter of the US$223 billion U.S. media market, along with influence over film, television, streaming and the cloud infrastructure upon which digital media increasingly depends.
The combined entity would acquire nearly half of the cable television market, including HBO and CNN. The merger would nearly double Paramount\u2019s share of the video streaming market, uniting HBO Max, Paramount+ and Discovery.
By combining two major Hollywood film studios, it would also capture nearly one-third of the film production market.
This is exactly the type of merger that U.S. antitrust agencies have historically scrutinized<\/a> because of concerns that excessive market concentration gives too much power to a few companies.
In media markets, such concerns are pronounced: Concentration threatens media diversity and increases the risk of media bias and ideological manipulation<\/a>.
A mega-conglomerate like Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery would control a vast share of U.S. viewership. Subject to pressure from or, worse, alignment with the Trump administration, the merged company could promote and protect the administration\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cloud control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By combining media production and valuable brands such as Harry Potter, DC Comics and Barbie, the merged giant would gain great negotiating power with competing streaming companies, advertisers and distributors. The merged companies could also secure more lucrative streaming deals, better licensing windows and higher per subscriber and ad rates with cable providers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2023 Hollywood writers and actors strikes<\/a> opposed the exploitative impact of streaming and AI on creative workers\u2019 compensation. The new media giant would wield significant bargaining power over those media workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The merger\u2019s potential detrimental impact extends beyond film and television industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramount is helmed by David Ellison, and the merger is backed by his father, Larry Ellison<\/a>. Ellison senior owns the world\u2019s fifth-largest cloud provider, Oracle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloud providers are the critical infrastructure for streaming platforms, ferrying digital content from streamers to viewers<\/a>. As streaming becomes the dominant mode of media consumption, the Ellison family\u2019s control over this infrastructure could give Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery another lever of power over its competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity denied<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With potential size and reach to rival Disney and Comcast\u2019s NBC Universal, Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery could become another massive media outlet with right-wing ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed deal follows the Trump administration\u2019s $1.1 billion cuts in public media funding<\/a>. These cuts \u2013 affecting PBS, NPR and more than 1,500 affiliated local news stations across the country, all accused by Trump of \u201cpartisan bias\u201d<\/a> \u2013 effectively accelerate the ongoing demise of local, independent news<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concurrently, Rupert Murdoch\u2019s Fox Corp. has settled its dynastic succession<\/a>, ensuring Fox remains a core channel for the American right<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the merger is approved, Fox Corporation, the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting and Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery would control one-third of all U.S. media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This consolidation would further cement the partisan media model driving deepening political polarization in the U.S.<\/a>, as public and local news media lose funding. The deal also would undermine already declining media independence<\/a>, fundamental to holding the powerful \u2013 whether corporations or politicians \u2013 to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wielding regulation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has not shied away from using antitrust law and communications regulation to exercise political control over media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before initiating its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount was acquired by David Ellison\u2019s Skydance Media. Ahead of the government\u2019s merger review, amid regulatory signals it could affect the review process<\/a>, Paramount-owned CBS paid $16.5 million dollars to Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit<\/a> Trump filed based on allegations of \u201cdeceptive\u201d editing of an interview with his political opponent Kamala Harris. Editing of interviews is a standard editorial practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after, the merger was approved by the FCC with strict political conditions<\/a>: hiring an ombudsman to oversee CBS\u2019s reporting and eliminating all of the network\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Ellison accepted these conditions<\/a>, promising to eliminate all of Paramount\u2019s U.S.-based DEI programs. For the ombudsman role, he hired Kenneth Weinstein<\/a>, former CEO of the conservative Hudson Institute and ambassador to Japan under the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the Paramount CEO also has pursued Bari Weiss, a prominent conservative voice, to guide \u201cthe editorial direction\u201d of the CBS news division<\/a>. Ellison\u2019s moves signal that editorial independence at CBS, and soon perhaps CNN, may be subject to ideological oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Oracle\u2019s Larry Ellison and son David Ellison, head of Skydance, attend a Los Angeles film premiere on May 14, 2013. (Eric Charbonneau\/Invision\/AP<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Ellison\u2019s father, Larry Ellison, has ties to Donald Trump<\/a> going back to the first Trump administration. The New York Times in an April 2025 profile said that Ellison \u201cmay be closer to Mr. Trump than any mogul this side of<\/a>\u201d Elon Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior Ellison has been playing a key role in negotiations over the future ownership of TikTok. His ties to Trump run deep enough to likely make him one of the main beneficiaries<\/a> of the TikTok deal currently in negotiation between the United States and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has shown an appetite for coercing media companies. For instance, ABC settled a Trump lawsuit in late 2024<\/a> with a $15 million donation to the as-yet-unbuilt Trump Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By placing two major news outlets in the hands of a family with ties to Trump, the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger would facilitate such control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Orb\u00e1n did \u2013 but faster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the \u201cHungarian model\u201d on speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a>, Hungary\u2019s authoritarian leader, spent a decade asserting increasing control over that nation\u2019s media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration is poised to accomplish the same in less than a year \u2013 and at greater scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to helping allies buy a growing share of U.S. media, in his first eight months Trump also has managed to score conciliatory overtures from the nation\u2019s tech billionaires, who fired fact-checkers at major social media platforms<\/a>, curbed moderation of hateful content<\/a> and asserted rigid editorial control<\/a> over the op-ed pages at The Washington Post, one of the country\u2019s most prominent newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is approved and Larry Ellison joins Andreessen Horowitz as part of the impending TikTok deal<\/a>, a movie studio, CBS, CNN, Fox, 185 Sinclair-owned TV stations<\/a> and a major social media platform will have owners with strong ties to Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe the promised benefits of a Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, including lower streaming prices, pale next to the damage it would do to media diversity and pluralism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By acquiring greater control over film production, TV and streaming, the merger would dramatically reconfigure the very media institutions that shape U.S. culture and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration\u2019s review of this merger may further cement the administration\u2019s political control over the U.S. media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation from various sources.Dwayne Winseck is a professor of journalism and communication at Carleton University. Following unprecedented threats from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, major affiliate station owners Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting pressured Disney\u2019s ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":98981,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1623],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-98972","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-expert-perspectives"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/98972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/98972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99163,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/98972\/revisions\/99163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=98972"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=98972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}