The Ellison Media Empire Grows Again
Netflix projected carefreeness. “We have always been disciplined,” Sarandos and Greg Peters, the other CEO, said in a statement. “This transaction has always been a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price. » Investors and Wall Street analysts seemed to agree; Various observers suggested that a tie-up didn’t look great for either Paramount or Warner Bros. (The step-grandson of one of Warner’s founding brothers likened the deal to “a forced marriage to your stupid cousin.”) Others panicked, particularly at the idea of the Ellisons controlling CNN. Mark Thompson, the network’s current president, warned staff not to jump to conclusions, but many were quick to do so. (“We’re doomed,” one employee told the media news site Status. “We’re screwed,” said another.) Many considered Ellison-era CBS News a proof of concept; indeed, it is very possible that this unit will somehow merge with CNN under the leadership of Bari Weiss, the anti-woke TV news neophyte that David Ellison hired to run CBS News in the fall, with results that have been, by turns, disturbing, disgusting and democratically concerning. “It’s hell out here,” a CBS source told Justin Baragona, a reporter for the progressive news site. Zeteolast night. The panic, they added, was justified.
Generally speaking, I would agree. Weiss didn’t exactly turn CBS News into Pravda— and, as I’ve written before, she seems to be less of a Trump stooge and more of the standard-bearer for a tedious, billionaire-class-adjacent strain of faux-contrarianism. But, at a minimum, its corporate overlords clearly seem drunk on a cocktail of cowardice and greed, and the concentration of several major news organizations in their hands is precisely the sort of thing people meant when they warned against turning the United States into Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. (And that’s without mentioning Larry Ellison’s participation in the American branch of TikTok.) Indeed, in my opinion, person should be able to have two powerful national information networks, whatever their politics. Similar logic applies – or does at least – to the prospect of Netflix buying Warner Bros., even without CNN. Given the grisly nature of the Ellisons, it might have been tempting to root for Netflix as a good suitor. But their takeover would have represented an even greater consolidation of corporate power, even if it had taken place to the jaunty rhythm of “Bridgerton” rather than “The Imperial March.” As Richard Brody observed in December, many Hollywood people viewed the prospect as “existential, perhaps presaging the end of mainstream cinema.” Trump may have acted hypocritically when he pointed out the resulting market share. But his words were not false.
This week I talked about a much smaller, but still very consequential, media merger—a proposed deal for Nexstar, already a prolific owner of local TV stations, to expand further by buying a rival, Tegna—and how it depends on Trump officials removing an obscure federal law barring such companies from reaching more than thirty-nine percent of households nationwide. Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, supports the Nexstar deal and removing the cap. Other supporters of the deal sought to assuage concerns about unconstrained broadcast conglomerates by emphasizing that DOJ antitrust authorities will still have the ability to intervene.
For opponents, such assurances might have carried more weight about a year ago. Initially, on antitrust, Trump’s second term seemed contiguous with that of the Biden administration, which aggressively engaged in large mergers; Trump’s new antitrust chief, Gail Slater, has been removed from the growing business-skeptical wing of the Republican Party and won praise from many progressives. This impression, however, has always been complicated and, over time, those in charge began to look more like enablers. There were increasing allegations that MAGALobbyists aligned with big business were effectively bypassing Slater. This month, she found herself unemployed. Various observers have concluded that MAGAThe turn of opposition against big capital was over, if it was sincere to begin with. The administration appears, increasingly, to favor not just the big companies that Trump likes, but also big companies, period — even though he clearly favors the former much more.
