OAN Commentary by: John M. Pierce
Friday, December 12, 2025
Netflix’s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is not simply another Hollywood deal. It is an attempt to consolidate unprecedented cultural power inside one of America’s most ideologically aggressive corporations — a company that has repeatedly used its global platform to elevate progressive narratives while suppressing dissenting viewpoints.
WBD is not just another studio. It is the home of HBO, DC Comics, the Harry Potter films, Game of Thrones, and one of the most important film archives in the world. Netflix itself boasts that the acquisition would combine Warner’s “iconic franchises and storied libraries” with the world’s largest streaming platform.
If Netflix absorbs these assets, it will not just be the biggest streaming service. It will become the most dominant cultural gatekeeper the United States — and much of the world — has ever seen.
Yet despite the obvious risks, WBD’s leadership is pushing forward even though Paramount Skydance has launched an all-cash tender offer of $30 per share for the entire company — a bid that implies significantly higher value for shareholders than Netflix’s offer.
So why did Warner Bros. Discovery choose Netflix as its preferred partner?
This week, this concern was raised on The Matt Gaetz Show, where Congressman Gaetz interviewed me about the transaction. I warned that Netflix may have been selected not because it offered the best return for shareholders, but because it aligned more closely with the ideological preferences of Warner’s executives. Congressman Gaetz added that such a decision could amount to a “possible breach of fiduciary duty.” That concern has since spread as filings and reporting show Paramount’s higher offer was repeatedly rebuffed while WBD’s board endorsed the lower Netflix bid.
Regulators must now confront an uncomfortable possibility: that WBD’s board rejected a financially superior offer because Netflix was the woker, ideologically preferred buyer. If true, that raises serious questions about whether the board has honored its basic duty to shareholders.
At the same time, merging WBD’s vast film and television library into Netflix would weaken competition in both streaming and content markets and concentrate cultural power in ways fundamentally at odds with the diversity of voices a free nation needs to survive. On these grounds alone, this merger should be stopped.
Culturally, the danger is stark. Netflix already holds enormous influence over America’s imagination. Its opaque algorithm determines what tens of millions of viewers see each night, shaping trends, tastes, and narratives with no accountability. Industry reporting shows the merger would give Netflix even greater leverage over release windows, pricing, and labor negotiations — with fewer competing studios for creators to turn to.
Handing this machine control over Warner’s franchises and future output would allow one company to rewrite characters, retell history, redefine social norms, and control which ideas reach audiences.
The consequences would extend far beyond Netflix’s subscriber base. Fewer major studios mean fewer competitors bidding for talent. Theaters — already weakened since the pandemic — would suffer as Netflix prioritizes exclusive streaming releases. Independent filmmakers would see opportunities shrink. Risk-taking and creative experimentation would be replaced by algorithm-tested formulas designed to maximize retention rather than artistic merit.
In short: the American film industry, long defined by competition and creativity, would contract into a single, politically driven super-entity.
That is not capitalism. That is cultural central planning. And it is why the Trump administration must act — and quickly.
President Trump has already indicated he is watching the battle over Warner closely and is prepared to intervene in the review process if necessary.
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission should treat this merger as a top-tier antitrust priority — not only for its market implications, but for what it means for free expression and America’s cultural pluralism.
Netflix should compete, not conquer. And the United States has a responsibility to ensure that no corporation can dominate the national imagination through raw market power and ideological activism.
Our country has always been a marketplace of ideas. Today, that marketplace runs through screens. If one company controls those screens, the marketplace disappears — and with it, a piece of America’s identity.
It is time to say no to a woke media monopoly before the damage becomes impossible to reverse.
(Views expressed by guest commentators may not reflect the views of OAN or its affiliates.)
John Pierce is the founder of the National Constitutional Law Union (NCLU) and the Managing Partner of John Pierce Law.
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