FCC chair tells CNBC WBD-Paramount merger deal ‘cleaner’ than Netflix
Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, told CNBC: Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. discovery “cleaner” than of NetflixHe added that he expected it to be approved “fairly quickly.”
“There’s a lot of concern about Netflix being the potential buyer there,” Carr said on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday. “This particular combination has raised many competitive concerns.”
Paramount Skydance submitted a revised offer last week to acquire all of WBD for $31 per share, down from $30 per share; WBD’s board found this superior to an existing Netflix offering.
Netflix had been preparing to buy the media giant’s studio and streaming businesses for $27.75 per share, but said it was “no longer financially attractive” in light of Paramount’s offer.
Carr spoke with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal during a wide-ranging discussion about the WBD-Paramount merger, which requires regulatory approval.
Carr told CNBC that Netflix “will have a very difficult path” to get regulatory approval, adding that Paramount “is a lot cleaner, not raising the same kind of concerns.”
“I think there are some real consumer benefits that could arise from this,” he added.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testified at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing titled “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission,” held at the Rayburn building on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Both deals have raised antitrust questions in the U.S. theater industry, prompting concerns about potential job losses or smaller film slates in Hollywood. Netflix’s proposed combination has also raised questions about streaming dominance, as it would bring together two of the most popular streaming services in Netflix and WBD’s HBO Max.
On Monday, Paramount said it plans to release at least 30 films a year, or 15 per studio. Executives also said that once the transaction is completed, streaming service Paramount+ and HBO Max will be combined into a single service.
It’s unclear what the editing process for Paramount and WBD will entail. The FCC usually reviews deals involving one of the nation’s broadcasters, including Paramount’s CBS, and last year supported Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
“If there is any FCC role, it will be a fairly minimal role. I think it’s a good deal and I think it should be completed fairly quickly,” Carr added.
Unlike Netflix’s proposed deal, Paramount’s offer includes WBD’s pay TV networks, including CNN, TBS and TNT.
Paramount has offered a $7 billion breakup fee if the deal doesn’t win regulatory approval. It has also already paid the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD owes Netflix due to the deal being canceled.
‘Significantly easier’
Some Concerns about the Netflix-WBD deal included higher consumer prices and reduced competition.
US President Donald Trump said in December that the potential deal “could be a problem” due to the increased market share it would give Netflix. He walked back those comments a month later, saying the deal would be reviewed only by the Justice Department.
In a statement, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called the Paramount and WBD merger “an antitrust disaster that threatens higher prices and fewer choices for American families.”
Analysts from investment bank Raymond James said last week that the Paramount-WBD deal was “significantly easier” than the Netflix deal.
“News on this deal, there are new challenges in cable networks, international linear networks, etc., but we still think the WBD/PSKY deal is more acceptable as an all-in,” analysts wrote.
“And we believe PSKY’s political standing with the current US administration is much stronger than Netflix’s, especially following the backlash to the WBD/NFLX deal.”
But Paren Knadjian, partner at consulting firm EisnerAmper, said last week that the Paramount-WBD deal isn’t necessarily a done deal and that the path forward looks more nuanced.
The Netflix-WBD deal focused primarily on library content, but Paramount’s deal represents a “horizontal consolidation” across cable TV, sports, streaming and news, he said.
“I think the biggest thing we’re going to focus on is getting intellectual property under one roof,” Knadjian told CNBC. “What power does this give to this new entity in terms of its ability to charge more?”
“Regulatory pressure, political pressure, these are things that will definitely delay the deal and make it more complicated, and I think there will need to be significant concessions to make that happen,” Knadjian said. he added.
There is also the open question of whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will find a problem with the structure of the agreement. Paramount’s bid included nearly $24 billion from Gulf state sovereign wealth funds.
— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
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