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Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

There you go. An overt technofascist Trump ally will now own CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Discovery, and a big chunk of TikTok

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com

Breaking: Netflix Backs Out of Warner Bros. Bidding, Paramount Set to Win

bit.lyNetflix Backs Out of Warner Bros. Bidding, Paramount Set to WinIn a stunning twist, Netflix is declining to raise its bid for Warner Bros., positioning David Ellison’s Paramount as the winner in the battle for the fabled studio.
Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

As the media coverage of this expands, note how many can bother to mention that this was made possible by trump administration corruption, including a fake Trump DOJ antitrust investigation into the merger's competitive impacts that will now magically evaporate

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

this is the very obvious game plan, and if you're reading journalism that doesn't at least hint at the possibility, you're not reading journalism at all:

euobserver.comHow Orbán systematically suffocated the Hungarian media over the past 15 yearsViktor Orbán has also pledged, in his annual address earlier this month, to “clear out” after the April elections media and civil society organisations deemed to threaten “sovereignty.” Fidesz already...

181 reposts493 likes

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

the one positive, if there is one, is that nobody at Larry Ellison's weird coalition of nepobabies and brunchlords appears to have any idea what they're doing. And the gargantuan debt load from this deal will be very challenging to navigate.

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

which means this could end up like the last two-decades' worth of Warner Brothers related mergers stemming from AOL to AT&T. Just a big pile of overvalued enshittification. Things could get worse with a massive wave of consumer defections (😉), and if an AI bubble pop straining Larry's assets.

chromacat.xyz
@chromacatxyz.bsky.social

Not to be a doomer but Saudi or others will just finance whatever debts they incur and help keep the stock propped up no matter how bad the books get cooked There is no need to be profitable with the amount of money they have

Karl Bode
@karlbode.com

yeah though even then will Saudis want to keep dumping money into a money pit if they can't maintain CNN's relevance and everybody leaves because it's just 24/7 garbage AI slop? There is some requirement for competence here, and they're not demonstrating a ton of it

Andre Kenji de Sousa
@andkenbrbr.bsky.social

It'll be impossible to navigate. Paramount will have to renegotiate the NFL deal, Ellison's kid is hoarding cable channels in an era where cable TV is dying. Even with a bunch of hit movies WBD is losing money.

Mr. Dr. Prof. Patrick
@mr-dr-prof-patrick.bsky.social

I am absolutely convinced we need a new age of anti trust monopoly enforcement where we force all of these gargantuan media and tech conglomerates to break up into small chunks. This much power is too concentrated for any one company and doesn’t allow competition to thrive

mrmoa.bsky.social
@mrmoa.bsky.social

It’s a good thing they are so incompetent. Incompetence is underrated. At one time I thought it was impossible to make a dent in the cult of the Washington Redskins, and Dan Snyder proved me wrong

Paul Chauvet
@paulchauvet.bsky.social

If the democrats can overcome this all in 2026 and 2028, they need to institute legislation to break up these media companies in tiny fragments AND use their power to ensure they don't get bought by fascists.

semiquaver
@semiquaver.bsky.social

For example there used to be a limit on the # of TV stations a company could own - 3! then 5 - then 7... now you can reach 39% of the country before you get in any trouble... Re: news orgs I think we need an ecosystem of non-profits like AP/proPublica etc. We need to protect the foundations though!