Paramount insiders continue to argue that "they have an easier path through Trump's regulators," as Charlie Gasparino put it this morning.
The regulatory approval process is more complicated than any one man, since European countries and other entities are involved. But Trump's wants and whims continue to dominate every media merger conversation. (It's striking how this has been so internalized and accepted as normal, eh?)
"Trump's approach to dealmaking appears to be: If you are my friend/donor, deals are good. If you are not, deals are bad," the aforementioned Lucas Shaw wrote.
The WSJ's Joe Flint, Lauren Thomas and Dave Michaels, following up on some of Gasparino's reporting, wrote last night about "a recent meeting of high-level White House officials in which concerns about a Netflix-Warner Discovery deal were discussed."
The trio also wrote that some Justice Department officials "are concerned that Netflix owning HBO Max would give it too much power in the streaming marketplace."
>> A new Bank of America research report put it this way: "If Netflix acquires Warner Bros., the streaming wars are effectively over. Netflix would become the undisputed global powerhouse of Hollywood beyond even its currently lofty position. In our view, it would have a content moat that no other standalone streamer can cross."
