Colorado Politics reports that Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has joined California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The coalition argues the deal would wipe out competition between two major media companies and cause substantial harm to movie theaters, cable distributors and audiences.
There is a legitimate antitrust question here. A combined company would control a reported 27% of the entertainment market, more than 30% of major box-office releases and over one-quarter of the basic cable licensing market. That is not pocket change. It is also not exactly what most Colorado families are muttering about while opening the electric bill.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado joined a 12-state lawsuit asking a federal court to stop Paramount from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery under the Clayton Act.
- Weiser says media consolidation threatens consumers, competition and the marketplace of ideas. He also tied the issue to Colorado hosting Sundance, because apparently Aspen-adjacent film culture is now a kitchen-table priority.
- The U.S. Department of Justice already reviewed the deal for eight months and concluded it was not likely to harm competition or consumers. The Democratic attorneys general disagree.
- The lawsuit says the merger would create a media behemoth with major control over films, cable channels and distribution. Fair concern. Hollywood does not need another corporate octopus with a streaming app.
- The question is why Colorado’s consumer-protection cavalry always seems fastest when the target comes with national headlines, California press conferences and a possible CNN segment.
My Bottom Line
Big corporate consolidation deserves scrutiny. I am not going to pretend stuffing Paramount, Warner Bros., CNN, HBO and the rest of the media leftovers into one giant clown car is automatically good for competition. It may not be.
But what the hell does this do for the working people of Colorado?
Families here are getting financially wood-chipped by housing costs, insurance premiums, utility bills, groceries, fees and a regulatory state that treats affordability like an annoying side issue. Yet our attorney general has discovered maximum urgency for a Hollywood merger. Funny how the cape always comes out when the lawsuit is glamorous, national and press-release friendly.
This is the Weiser preview. Lots of moral language. Lots of cameras. Lots of opportunities to stand beside California politicians and look gravely concerned about the “marketplace of ideas.” Meanwhile, Coloradans are staring at bills they cannot ignore from monopolies, quasi-monopolies and state-enabled rackets much closer to home.
If concentration of power is dangerous in Hollywood, fine. Apply the same moral clarity to the political, nonprofit and regulatory cartel running Colorado like a subscription service nobody can cancel.
So is this really about protecting Colorado consumers? Or is it another ticket onto the national resistance-and-press-conference circuit while the people paying for everything back home keep getting told to wait their turn?
Source: The Denver Gazette
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