Four Democratic members of Congress on Friday asked the Department of Justice to investigate Warner Bros. Discovery over alleged anticompetitive practices a year after the company’s merger.
(Bloomberg) — Four Democratic members of Congress on Friday asked the Department of Justice to investigate Warner Bros. Discovery over alleged anticompetitive practices a year after the company’s merger.
The merger appeared to allow the company to adopt practices “that reduce consumer choice and harm workers,” Representatives Joaquin Castro, David Cicilline and Pramila Jayapal and Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a letter timed to the one-year anniversary the merger was finalized.
The lawmakers, who had voiced concern about the merger before it went through last April 8, cited hundreds of job cuts at CNN including the canceling of CNN+ as well as the canceling of many projects including Batgirl and The Time Traveler’s Wife.
“The antitrust laws seek to promote consumer choice, product variety and industry innovation. Accordingly, if a consummated merger results in dramatically less available content and discourages innovation, the merger should be reassessed,” they wrote.
In 2021, the same group had led more than two dozen lawmakers in voicing concerns the merger would “lessen competition for diverse talent and content in affected industries.”
Emma Dulaney, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, confirmed the department had received the letter but had no further comment. Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment on the letter. Peter Safran, the co-chair and CEO of DC Studios, suggested at a press event in January that Batgirl had quality problems. “That was not releasable,” he said. “It happens sometimes.”
Bloomberg News has reported the company will announce a revamp later this month of its HBO Max streaming service, adding numerous titles from the company’s library of unscripted lifestyle shows for the same price, and with the service expected to be renamed “Max.”
But the lawmakers questioned whether a new $20-a-month premium tier in the works with higher quality will mean reduced quality for the current product.
“With fewer alternatives available to consumers, there is less competitive pressure on WBD to innovate or provide a variety of quality content,” they wrote.
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