Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr has expressed concerns over a potential merger of Netflix (NFLX) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
“There are legitimate competition concerns that I’ve seen raised about [a Netflix] acquisition and just the sheer amount of scale and consolidation you can see in the streaming market,” Carr said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Although Carr views a Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros.’ (WBD) film and TV studio assets as being problematic, he has fewer reservations over a potential takeover of the entire business by Paramount Skydance (PSKY) given the comparatively smaller size of the Paramount+ streaming service.
While the FCC has no jurisdiction over the potential merger between Netflix (NFLX) and Warner Bros. (WBD), a Paramount Skydance/Warner Bros. merger would fall under the FCC’s purview due to Paramount’s (PSKY) intention to raise funds from foreign sources to finance the transaction.