Lisa Nandy, the UK culture secretary, has said she is “minded” to ask regulators to examine Paramount’s $110bn (£85bn) acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a mega-merger that would create a media powerhouse controlling Channel 5, CNN, TNT Sports and two major streaming services.
In a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, Nandy said she had written to the current and proposed owners of Warner Bros Discovery to inform them she was considering intervening on grounds of media plurality and competition. She intends to task Ofcom with assessing the impact on media plurality, and request the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential competition issues.
“Lisa Nandy plans to ask Ofcom and CMA to probe Paramount’s £85bn Warner Bros takeover over plurality and competition fears.”
The deal would combine assets from Hollywood studios behind franchises including Superman, Batman and Top Gun with the UK’s Channel 5, news channel CNN, and TNT Sports – which broadcasts Champions League, Premier League and the Olympics. It would also bring together streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max.
Nandy acknowledged that the proposed acquisition was “global in nature”, but said her focus was “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”.
However, she noted a significant gap in the current legislation: the Enterprise Act 2002 does not cover streaming or video-on-demand services. “As the legislation was drafted at a time where viewing was largely via broadcast linear channels, it does not cover the effect of a merger on streaming or video-on-demand services,” Nandy 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 she decides to intervene, Nandy said she would bring forward secondary legislation to include streaming and on-demand services in the Enterprise Act, allowing Ofcom to investigate the merger’s impact on those platforms.
The move comes after “engagement with the parties and independent research” by her department, she said. The decision to intervene could put a significant obstacle in the path of one of the biggest media deals in history.