Elizabeth Warren sounds alarm on potential Paramount-WBD deal

Just hours after news broke that the new David Ellison-backed Paramount is bidding to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, lawmakers are already sounding the alarm.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took to social media on Thursday and came out against any possible consolidation between the two companies. “This media merger must be blocked as a dangerous concentration of power,” the Senator wrote.

Remember when Trump announced a multimillion-dollar secret deal with CEO David Ellison?

And then — shocker — Trump approved Ellison buying CBS/Paramount.

Now, Ellison wants to take over CNN/Warner Bros.

This media merger must be blocked as a dangerous concentration of power. https://t.co/H26Lyx3pmB

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 11, 2025

Warren has been a consistent opponent of media mergers during her time in the Senate. As recently as last year, she was one of several lawmakers to publicly oppose the Venu Sports joint venture between Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Back in 2019, when Disney was forced to divest the regional sports networks it received from its mega-deal with Fox, Warren criticized the sale to Sinclair. She was also a vocal detractor of Paramount’s recent merger with Skydance, calling for an investigation into the deal on account of “corrupt side deals or political favors to get their merger approved.”

The Senator cited those same shady dealings in her social media post on Thursday, signaling her opposition to the deal is founded on both political and regulatory grounds. Specifically, Warren’s concerns seem centered around the possibility of Ellison, whose family is cozy with the Trump administration, combining CNN with CBS News, which has already made moves and acquisitions that observers believe will shift the outlet rightward.

From a sports perspective, however, a merger would likely be welcomed by fans who already struggle to keep up with the sheer amount of channels and streaming apps needed to watch games. Bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery under one umbrella would simplify some of that experience.

Of course, there are genuine concerns about market share, and whether a merger would spur on anticompetitive practices.

Given the speed with which Warren, a former presidential candidate who is seen as a thought leader in the Democratic Party, has come out against the prospect of a purchase, it’s reasonable to expect that any potential deal will face substantial regulatory scrutiny from lawmakers.