The UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has signalled she is ready to intervene in Paramount’s $110bn (£85bn) acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery – a deal that would create a media powerhouse straddling Hollywood franchises, British broadcasting, and global news.
Nandy said on Tuesday that she was “minded” to ask the communications regulator Ofcom to examine the merger’s impact on media plurality, and to request the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential competition issues. The acquisition, if approved, would give the combined entity control over Channel 5, CNN, TNT Sports (which broadcasts the Champions League, Premier League and Olympics), and the streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max, as well as studio assets behind Superman, Batman, and Top Gun.
“Lisa Nandy plans to ask Ofcom and CMA to scrutinise Paramount's £85bn Warner Bros Discovery takeover on plurality and competition grounds.”
“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,” Nandy said in a written ministerial statement. She stressed that her focus remained on “the UK public interest and the range of services available to UK audiences, including Channel 5, TNT Sports, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and CNN International, as well as Paramount+ and HBO Max.”
The culture secretary acknowledged that the current legal framework — the Enterprise Act 2002 — was drawn up at a time when most viewing was through broadcast linear channels, not streaming. “It does not cover the effect of a merger on streaming or video-on-demand services,” she said. “I believe this ought to be able to be considered in relation to this and all future media mergers given the role on-demand viewing now plays in the market.”
If Nandy decides to proceed, she will bring forward secondary legislation to bring streaming and on-demand services within the scope of the Enterprise Act, allowing Ofcom and the CMA to examine the deal’s effect on the UK’s increasingly digital media landscape. The move marks one of the most significant potential interventions by a UK government in a global media merger, underscoring the growing concern over media concentration in the streaming era.