TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Remarks At Spotlight Forum On The Potential Merger Between Paramount-Skydance And Warner Brothers Discovery

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke at a spotlight forum highlighting the dangers of a potential merger between Paramount-Skydance and Warner Brothers, which could exacerbate high costs and centralized control in the entertainment industry. Below is a transcript of Leader Schumer's remarks:

The merger of Paramount Skydance with Warner Brothers Discovery should alarm every single person who is worried about higher costs for news and streaming services; who's worried about editorial independence; who's worried about dwindling jobs in the creative industry, something we in New York and New Jersey and California and Massachusetts care a lot about, and the whole country.

If allowed, the merger would be one of the largest in American history. One single company would control not just Warner Brothers and Paramount, but CNN, CBS, HBO, DC Studios, Cartoon Network, and many other of America's most recognizable brands. It's amazing to think all of these entities, which used to be independent and you could get different voices, are all going to be under one roof. That's not the America we know and love. In addition, one family would own all those networks, as well as multiple streaming services, and, in addition to everything else, one of the most popular social media platforms, of course, TikTok.

When monopolies like this run rampant, costs go up, I would tell every American consumer. You say, oh, this is sort of merger talk. It's going to raise your costs. Raise your costs. Competition goes down. Competition both in the creative world, but also in the information world, which so many of these entities have a great deal of say and a great deal of control. Innovation dies. Independence is weakened. So if you're frustrated by high streaming fees, this merger is a nightmare. Fees will keep going up folks, while the incentives to improve services to customers go down.

Worse, this merger reeks of corruption and political manipulation. Donald Trump said he wanted to be, "Involved in deciding the outcome." That's outrageous in itself. And then everyone should be asking, were there any backroom promises made? Oh, let this merger go through. We'll treat you nice, Donald. We can't ask Gail Slater, because Trump pushed her out when she was head of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. David Ellison the CEO of Paramount, is a big Trump ally, just like his father, and if this merger happened, the right-wing will continue to take greater control of America's largest media companies and suffocate independent voices. They've made promises to Trump that will provide favorable coverage and editorial change. Ellison has already started installing people, putting in new people in many of these agencies, and that is of great worry. We need a diversity of voices in democracy. This merger would go a long way to wiping that out.

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