Both houses of Congress are gearing up to go after Netflix’s attempted takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Recently, the House held a hearing on the merger. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who in a letter called the deal a “potential abuse of the review process,” is planning on holding what he promises will be an “intense” hearing on the other side of the Capitol building on the same issue.
The pro-merger case was portrayed by advocates thusly: turn on your TV, pick from a massive content library, and relax. The deal, as one advocate wrote, will “work to the benefit of consumers.”
This spin is implausible, and it is a spin the Trump administration has not thus far been buying. Before the hearing, President Donald Trump expressed skepticism about the deal, saying it “could be a problem” in terms of antitrust issues.
To be fair, advocates of the deal have an impossible task: convince decision-makers that a deal that will objectively allow Netflix to dominate streaming services is not an antitrust issue. But the tack they took, attacking past antitrust actions, failed to land. One pro-deal expert argued the Bush administration doomed two companies when it banned Blockbuster from purchasing Hollywood Entertainment; as a result, in this telling, neither company could compete with Netflix.
The sizes of both were irrelevant: Netflix bested physical renting services because mail, and later streaming, were simply better alternatives. Blockbuster was also seeking to purchase a similar company, which would have allowed it to dominate the movie-rental business; this purchase, by contrast, would allow Netflix to dominate the entire entertainment industry.
Nonetheless, this argument did not hold water with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Republicans, such as Texas Rep. Lance Gooden and California Rep. Darrell Issa, rebuffed a Netflix talking point — that the merger will bring prices down — by pointing out that Netflix has steadily raised its prices and shows no signs of lowering them.
Democrats, too, expressed skepticism, with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) pointing out that decades of lax antitrust enforcement had already concentrated power in a few media giants, and pressed whether combining Netflix with one of the industry’s largest content libraries would further unbalance the marketplace.
Netflix already holds immense cultural power. It doesn’t just “offer” shows. It decides what gets funded, what gets promoted, what gets buried, and what price households will pay next year when the last round of “introductory” rates is long gone. And the company, which is led by progressives such as Obama and Biden administration official Susan Rice, has used its cultural power to push a left-wing, woke agenda. Warner Bros. Discovery owns a huge studio machine and has the rights to a deep library of content: HBO, DC, and decades of film and television. Put those together, and you don’t get a more competitive market. You get a stronger gatekeeper, and one who will twist existing properties to left-wing ends.
What happens when a dominant distributor buys a major supplier? It changes behavior up and down the chain. Smaller studios have fewer serious buyers. Creators take safer bets because the largest buyer sets the tastes and the conditions. Rivals face higher costs or worse access. Consumers get “bundles” and “value” while prices creep up and options quietly shrink.
Opponents tried to play down concerns by pointing out “alternatives” such as YouTube: after all, it’s another place to watch videos. But user-uploaded videos are not a substitute for premium film and scripted television. If they competed on the same terms, Netflix wouldn’t pay billions for studios, rights, and global production pipelines.
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While Congress does have a say, the Trump administration will ultimately decide whether it goes forward. And the hearing did not convince Trump. Speaking to reporters days later, he posted on Truth Social that he was concerned about Netflix’s “cultural takeover,” highlighting an op-ed opposing the deal.
The deal is still in flux. But for now, all signs point to lawmakers on both sides being skeptical. Which is good: it would be bad for entertainment, consumers, and Netflix’s competitors. The administration should turn its skepticism into action and block the deal.
Anthony Constantini is a policy analyst at the Bull Moose Institute.