Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has voiced concerns about Netflix’s plan to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and streaming businesses. He called the deal “a lot of scale and consolidation” that could affect competition in the streaming market.
Carr praised Netflix’s growth as “fantastic” but said the size of this acquisition raises legitimate competition questions. Interestingly, he said he doesn’t have the same worries about Paramount potentially buying Warner’s assets. That’s because Paramount’s streaming service is much smaller than Netflix’s.
The FCC does not directly oversee the Netflix-Warner deal. But Carr said the commission might need to review a Paramount-Warner combination if it happens, especially since Paramount (which owns CBS) plans to raise funds from foreign sources.
Last month, Warner Bros. agreed to sell much of its business to Netflix. Paramount has been campaigning to regulators and Warner Bros. investors to block Netflix’s deal and back its own offer. However, Warner Bros.’ board continues to support the Netflix agreement.
