Posted on 08/15/2026 10:13:14 PM PDT by Libloather
The lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance’s $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery could chase away a key source of funds for California’s Democratic Party — namely, the deep-pocketed executives who run Big Media, The Post has learned.
Most of the workers in this ecosystem — the directors, screenwriters, stagehands and the reporters at the companies that combine entertainment with news gathering (like Warner, Paramount, Disney and Comcast), you name it — far outnumber the honchos and are reliable Democrats. But the real money for financing campaigns — and Dem coffers on the national level as well — comes from the top.
All of that could change, I am told, since California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a group of lefty AGs filed suit to break up Paramount’s WBD deal. Specifically, media and entertainment moguls, — many of them on Bonta’s home turf in Hollywood — are calling for the AG to reach a settlement with Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison, according to sources.
It’s the reason why you hear more mainstream state Dems calling for a settlement as well. To be clear, it isn’t because of any great love for Ellison, the upstart movie producer who, with the help of billionaire father Larry Ellison’s bank account, has been gobbling up ever-larger media giants for the past three years.
Rather, it’s pure self-interest — survival, actually. These execs see the writing on the wall: cord cutting is eating away at profits and revenues from cable bundles. People go to the movies less — far less — and streaming services are a tough business, too. Meanwhile, Big Tech is looming with troves of cash amassed from gadgets, social networks and search engines to fuel expansion into entertainment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Just horrible.
What’s wrong with Amazon’s entertainment operations? I rely on Amazon for streaming of many good films at reasonable prices.
In like two years you’re gonna tell AI to make a movie of your favorite book and watch it in minutes. No editing. No mossing Tom Bombadil. AI will make TLOR exactly like the books.
Most of their decent movies have the paywall now. Their soccer is now priced if
you want to watch top level game as they weren’t before (a teaser to get you
hooked). That’s what made the $139 worth it. Now they are getting greedy with
the product shrinkage. That’s one of the reasons I quit cable in 2015. The rest of
what I have to say is self censored expletives about all streamers who divide
a product so you have to have multiple services.
Paramount needs to move out of California regardless of the outcome here. All businesses need to move out of socialist Blue chit holes.
Whatever happens I hope this Paramount Warner merger doesn’t have them relocate to my state.
We have enough whack jobs in my state currently. Stay in California!!! Build a fence around the place so the locusts can’t leave.
For Amazon, nothing, but for the old movie financial system everything. The old system no longer works and the only outlet is the streaming services. Adapt or die, that’s the new problem for the movie business.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.