Attorney General Rayfield and a coalition of 11 other attorneys general have filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunctionto immediately block the $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. by Paramount Skydance Corporation – a deal that would likely lead to higher prices for audiences, lower quality, and less content for film and television. On Monday, Attorney General Rayfield and a coalition of states sued to block the merger.
“Oregonians would feel this merger’s impact at the box office, on their cable bill, and in what’s even available to watch,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “Paramount and Warner Bros. refused to hit pause while the courts sort out whether this deal is even legal, so we’re asking a judge to do it for them.”
The proposed merger, the largest in Hollywood history, would combine two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the five major basic cable channel owners, extinguishing competition between Paramount and Warner Bros., and inflicting substantial harm on Oregon movie theaters, basic cable distributors and, ultimately, audiences nationwide. In the U.S. alone, if allowed to merge, the combined titan would control nearly one-third of theatrical motion picture distribution, and nearly one-third of basic cable programming.
For more than a century, Warner Bros. and Paramount have led the film and television industry as independent sources of creativity and competition. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal. The attorneys general allege that if Warner Bros. and Paramount are allowed to merge it would lessen competition in the areas of wide release theatrical film distribution, anticipated top-grossing theatrical film distribution, and the licensing of basic cable television channels.
Currently, Paramount and Warner Bros. compete to create and distribute new, different, and innovative film and television content to viewers in Oregon and around the country. The proposed deal will end this competition, threatening viewers with higher prices, the decline of theatrical exhibitions of films in Oregon, and a reduction in the variety, quality, and amount of content distributed.
In filing this request for injunctive relief, Attorney General Rayfield joins the attorneys general of California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington.
