Lawmakers Urge Review of Discovery-WarnerMedia Merger

A group of Democratic Congress members has sent a letter urging the Justice Department to conduct a post-merger review of the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal because of actions by Warner Bros. Discovery.

Since Discovery acquired Warner Media from AT&T, the new company has done things that have heightened barriers to entry for workers in the media and entertainment industry, hurt competition for industry workers and reduced choice for media consumers, the legislators assert.

The letter does not call for the Justice Department to break up Warner Bros. Discovery but it could make further consolidation more difficult, according to nextTV.com .

“We also hope that the competitive consequences resulting from the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger inform updates to the merger guidelines to ensure that the guidelines reflect the needs of workers, consumers and content creators in the media and entertainment industry,” the letter said.

The letter was signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust; Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).

Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment, but it is not the only company in the entertainment space moving to cut costs and reduce the amount of content available to consumers.

The Walt Disney Co. is in the process of laying off 7,000 employees and Netflix said it was cutting back on movie production...

In the letter, the legislators say that Warner Bros. Discovery’s cost-cutting efforts have hurt employees and consumers of video content. It asserts that Warner Bros. Discovery has been able to make these moves because the merger created less competition in the industry.