The British government has signalled that it is likely to intervene in Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discover, citing concerns about maintaining media plurality.
Lisa Nandy, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said in a statement on Tuesday, “Following engagement with the parties and independent research, my department has today written to the current and proposed owners of Warner Bros Discovery on my behalf to inform them that I am minded to intervene.”
She said she would do so, first, because of “the need for, to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable, a sufficient plurality of views in news media in each market for news media” in the U.K.
Second, it was to satisfy “the need, in relation to every different audience [in the U.K.] for there to be a sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises, or the enterprises providing on-demand program services or both, serving that audience.”
The move was prompted by concerns about the impact the deal might have on U.K. television audiences, including broadcasters and channels such as Channel 5, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and CNN International, as well as streaming platforms Paramount+, TNT Sports and HBO Max.
Nandy is looking to broaden public interest rules to better reflect the popularity of streaming and video-on-demand services, she said.
The deal has already been cleared in the U.S, China, Australia, Germany, France and Saudi Arabia, and it is thought likely the European Union will give it the greenlight if certain “remedies” are made, such as the ending of the Paramount-Universal distribution joint-venture known as UIP.
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