The Ellisons’ potential media empire under a Paramount-Warner Bros. deal

Paramount Skydance appears to have won the bidding war to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery. If the $110.9 billion deal goes through, it will place a vast media kingdom in the hands of Paramount CEO and staunch Trump administration supporter David Ellison, with his father, billionaire Larry Ellison, also likely to play a role. This includes nearly unprecedented access to a variety of news organizations and Hollywood tentpoles.

CBS News

CBS is already under the auspices of Paramount as the company’s flagship network. Under Ellison’s tenure, the Tiffany Network has undergone major changes; Paramount’s prior owners controversially announced the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” with some, including Colbert, alleging this came at the behest of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. After Ellison purchased Paramount, he “subsequently made additional pledges to the FCC’s Carr to win support,” said NPR.

Ellison also “promised the cessation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives throughout Paramount and the addition of an ombudsman to field complaints of ideological bias,” said NPR. Under Ellison, Paramount named Bari Weiss, the founder of the right-leaning site The Free Press, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss “contended CBS and much of the rest of the media has been too reflexively hostile to conservatives and the president, and she’s sought to revamp the newsroom.”

CNN

A Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would also give the Ellisons command of another major news network: CNN. Following the revamping of CBS by Bari Weiss, the “concern is that similar changes could be in store for CNN,” said the Los Angeles Times, with Weiss potentially playing a major role at that network too. CNN, even more so than CBS, has been in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs, and he has “personally called for the ouster of hosts at the network who have questioned his policies.”

Employees at CNN should not “jump to conclusions about the future,” CNN CEO Mark Thompson said in a memo in an attempt to calm the waters. Ellison has also said CNN will remain editorially independent. Still, reporters have “expressed a combination of fear and concern,” seven current CNN employees said to NBC News. The mood inside CNN is “shaken” and “depressing,” the employees added, as “no one wants to work for the Ellisons. And if Bari is going to be running CNN, expect people to leave.”

HBO Max/Paramount+

The merger would give the Ellisons control of two major streaming services, HBO Max and Paramount+. These platforms will be “combined into one streaming service if regulators approve” the deal, said CNBC, citing a conference call from Ellison. This would create a streaming behemoth unlike any in Hollywood today, as the “service would have about 200 million subscribers given existing totals.”

No details have yet been given on any potential price increases for the merged streamer, but HBO is “likely to be a sub-brand within the larger service,” said CNBC, though Ellison has said he doesn’t want to disrupt HBO’s programming. The “streaming environment has already become more consolidated in recent years,” said The Washington Post, most notably in the form of Hulu and Disney+. Disney “offers streaming bundles to customers who want to subscribe to both and another with ESPN+.”

Warner Bros. Studios

Besides CNN, Warner Bros. Studios is likely the gem the Ellisons are going after the most, as Warner Bros. owns the “second-biggest trove of movie properties after Disney,” said The New York Times. This includes major Hollywood franchises like “The Lord of the Rings,” “Batman” and “Harry Potter,” with HBO Max currently developing the latter into a television series.

While most think of Warner Bros. as a film studio, the combination with Paramount could “cause a major reset of the TV studio business,” said The Hollywood Reporter. The two studios have “more than 100 series currently airing or about to premiere and another 25 to 30 more either greenlit for future dates or in development.” The two studios’ “output touches almost every part of the TV landscape,” and this could remain true for the foreseeable future if the deal closes.

Paramount Pictures

With the Ellisons’ current Paramount projects looking to get absorbed into Warner Bros. Studios, questions have swirled about theatrical releases, especially among movie fans. The combined company has “no intention to pull back on production. We obviously intend to make 30 movies a year, basically 15 films from Paramount, 15 films from Warner Bros,” Ellison told reporters.

Given this intention, the major question is “how do you pull off a major studio release schedule of 30 titles considering the most that have unspooled recently by a major studio was Universal’s 20 titles last year (a total that included Focus Features),” said Deadline. Some in the movie industry don’t think it’s possible, and “‘there aren’t 30 dates on the calendar’ is a common criticism heard among many studio sources.”

DC Studios

Within Warner Bros., there is one entity that is being watched closely amid merger talks: DC Studios. While “Superman” director James Gunn is currently at the studio’s helm with plans for an extended DC universe, a merger “may result in changes to whatever plans DC Studios has for its superhero franchises,” said Forbes. This could include potential changes to the upcoming “Superman” sequel, as well as plans for characters like Batman.

If Ellison inks the deal, he will “obtain a newly minted DC superhero cinematic universe that’s already flying high at the box office and enjoying immense critical and mainstream audience approval,” said Forbes. But when it comes to Gunn, he could end up butting heads with Ellison; it is “no secret he’s not a fan of the current presidential regime, and he’s already been targeted by MAGA once,” said Comics Beat. Even so, keeping a “steady supply of hit DC superhero movies would seem to be a desired outcome no matter who buys the studio.”

Cable networks

A unified Paramount-Warner Bros. would also open up the floodgates to a wide variety of cable offerings. While cable has largely ceded way to streaming in recent years, the Ellisons are “betting they can wring some life out of” these networks, said the Times. Paramount currently owns major channels like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET. A purchase of Warner Bros. would add HGTV, the Food Network, Discovery, TLC, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, TBS and TNT to its list.

But this consolidation is providing “another source of fear that more massive job losses are on the horizon for a division that has already faced steep cuts in recent years,” said Variety. Most of Paramount’s current cable channels “run with skeleton staffs.” As of now, Ellison has said he does not plan to sell any cable channels if a deal goes through.