00:00More than 1,000 Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters have penned a letter opposing the
00:04$110 billion takeover of Warner Brothers by Paramount, citing concerns about job losses
00:10and higher costs with fewer choices for consumers. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw joins us to discuss the
00:15story. And Lucas, I mean, you're looking at images of some of the actors here. It was a who's who
00:19of people opposing it. Does it make a difference? DVD, probably not. You know, this is a legal matter
00:27and it seems like the Department of Justice is not going to aggressively fight this merger.
00:31Some state state attorneys general, Europe may, but most people assume that that will lead to
00:36kind of minor concessions, not to the deal getting blocked. But the Hollywood industry is against this
00:42deal for the most part. There are exceptions to that. And I think they are hoping that if they
00:47apply enough public pressure and rally enough opposition, that it may, if not completely derail
00:53the deal, impede it a little bit. And we are expecting Senator Booker apparently hosting today
00:59a hearing on the Warner Brothers deal. Mark Ruffalo, among those testifying for it, what sort of
01:04reception are they likely to get in Congress? Well, I think the senators on the left, the Democratic senators,
01:12will probably be generous and friendly towards the Hollywood figures. They are the ones who are raising
01:18concerns about this deal. You know, you'll remember that the Senate held a hearing on the Netflix deal
01:23with Warner Brothers earlier this year, and there was more bipartisan skepticism. This time, it seems
01:28like the Republicans aren't as interested in questioning this deal, but the Democrats still are. I think the
01:34bigger question is whether this hearing, which isn't even a full hearing, is going to matter or make a lot
01:39of
01:39noise. David Ellison is not attending. He said that he's attending a funeral for a relative.
01:44So what about internationally, Lucas? In Europe, in the UK, is there any sort of pushback that
01:50international lawmakers are giving into these two companies? I mean, there is some. Both Paramount
01:56and Warner Brothers Discovery have significant assets in Europe in particular. And so I think
02:01there's concern in select markets about how much power that company could have. Again, I don't know that
02:06that will derail the entire deal, but it could lead to concessions of selling particular networks or
02:13assets in the region.
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