The Costs of Consolidation - Arguments and Evidence for Blocking the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

Oct 12, 2026

The report argues that a potential Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger would impose severe harms on consumers, workers, and democratic public interest. It frames consolidation as a long-running pattern of mergers that shrinks media competition while digital culture becomes dominated by a few large firms. It examines impacts across market shares, ownership and the FCC, labor, political discourse, sports, tax incentives, news, public access, video games, animation, movie theaters, diversity, and media antitrust. The conclusion calls the costs too high and the safeguards insufficient.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages78

Reading Time27 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Impact on U.S. Consumers

Market Shares

Foreign Ownership & the FCC

Labor

Political Discourse

Sports

Tax Incentives

News

Libraries and Public Access

Video Games

Animation

Movie Theaters

Diversity

Distribution & Media Antitrust

Conclusion

Appendix: Subject Area Experts

The Costs of Consolidation Arguments and Evidence for Blocking the Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Andrew deWaard, PhD Shawna Kidman, PhD Miranda Banks, PhD Pete Johnson, PhD Rodney Benson, PhD Cale Epps, PhD Candidate James Fleury, PhD Kate Fortmueller, PhD Dawn Fratini, PhD Michael Gainey, PhD Candidate Jennifer Hessler, PhD Pete Kunze, PhD Deborah Jaramillo, PhD Annemarie Navar-Gill, PhD Charlotte Orzel, PhD Karen Petruska, PhD Pawel Popiel, PhD Jennifer Porst, PhD Michael Reinhard, PhD Alex Russo, PhD Christine Smith Ethan Tussey, PhD Caleb Ward, PhD Candidate MACRO Lab Lead Authors Andrew deWaard Associate Professor, Communication, UC San Diego Shawna Kidman Associate Professor, Communication, UC San Diego Miranda Banks Professor, Film, TV, & Media Studies, Loyola Marymount University Pete Johnson Visiting Assistant Professor, Gallatin School, New York University Co-Authors Rodney Benson Cale Epps James Fleury Kate Fortmueller Dawn Fratini Michael Gainey Jennifer Hessler Pete Kunze Deborah Jaramillo Annemarie Navar-Gill Charlotte Orzel Karen Petruska Pawel Popiel Jennifer Porst Michael Reinhard Alex Russo Christine Smith Ethan Tussey Caleb Ward Professor, Media, Culture, & Communication, New York University PhD Candidate, Cinema & Media Studies, University of Southern California Senior Lecturer, Film and Media Studies, Washington University Associate Professor, Film and Media History, Georgia State University Lecturer, Animation, Loyola Marymount University PhD Candidate, Communication, University of California San Diego Assistant Professor, Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California Assistant Professor, Communication, Tulane University Professor, Film & Television Studies, Boston University Assistant Professor, Communication, Old Dominion University Visiting Assistant Professor, Communication, Tulane University Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Gonzaga University Assistant Professor, Communication, Washington State University Associate Professor, Film & Media, Emory University Visiting Assistant Professor, Film & Media, Emory University Ordinary Professor, Media & Communication and History, Catholic University Associate Librarian, Concordia University Associate Professor, Film & Media, Georgia State University PhD Candidate, Film & Media, Georgia State University Contributors Ryan Briggs Branden Buehler Kathryn Burrell Charlotte Howell Myles McNutt Timothy Piper Suzanne Scott Joost van Dreunen Travis Vogan Hannah Wold PhD Candidate, Radio, Television & Film, University of Texas Austin Associate Professor, Communication Media & Arts, Seton Hall University PhD Candidate, Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst Associate Professor, Communication, Boston University Associate Professor of Communication & Theatre Arts, Old Dominion University Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Furman University Associate Professor of Radio, Film & Television, University of Texas Austin Professor, New York University Stern School of Business Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Iowa Former Senior Administrative Program Coordinator, Center for Entertainment & Media Industries, University of Texas Austin Table of Contents Introduction 5 The Impact on U.S. Consumers 8 Market Shares 10 Foreign Ownership & the FCC 15 Labor 19 Political Discourse 24 Sports 28 Tax Incentives 32 News 37 Libraries and Public Access 41 Video Games 47 Animation 51 Movie Theaters 56 Diversity 63 Distribution & Media Antitrust 68 Conclusion 73 Appendix: Subject Area Experts 75 The Costs of Consolidation Introduction “A mountain of entertainment” is the slogan of Paramount+, the streaming service operated by Paramount Skydance, but at what cost? Decades of mergers and acquisitions have reduced the number of major U.S. media companies to a handful of transnational conglomerates that dominat

FAQs

What merger is the report primarily addressing?

The report focuses on arguments and evidence related to blocking a potential Paramount Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Why does the report say the merger would be harmful?

It claims consolidation would burden the combined company with significant debt while undermining competitive safeguards, consumer needs, long-term industry health, and broader democratic and public welfare interests.

What major areas of impact does the report examine?

It reviews impacts on U.S. consumers, market shares, foreign ownership and the FCC, labor, political discourse, sports, tax incentives, news, libraries and public access, video games, animation, movie theaters, diversity, and distribution & media antitrust.

Oct 12, 2026

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