Netflix‘s proposed $83 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business has elicited opposition from one of the most prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
“This deal looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare,” the senator said in a statement Friday. “A Netflix-Warner Bros. would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market — threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they watch, while putting American workers at risk.”
Warren called on President Trump and the Justice Department to “enforce” antitrust laws.
“Under Donald Trump, the antitrust review process has also become a cesspool of political favoritism and corruption,” she said. “The Justice Department must enforce our nation’s anti-monopoly laws fairly and transparently — not use the Warner Bros. deal review to invite influence-peddling and bribery.”
Netflix also has encountered pushback from Republicans who have raised antitrust concerns about its takeover of WB studios and HBO Max. In a Nov. 13 letter to Trump administration officials, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote, “With more than 300 million global subscribers and a vast content library, Netflix currently wields unequaled market power.”
Other industry observers have opined that Netflix, together with Warner Bros.’s assets, would flex outsize power. “If I was tasked with doing so, I could not think of a more effective way to reduce competition in Hollywood than selling WBD to Netflix,” Jason Kilar, who once served as CEO of Hulu, said in a post Thursday on X. He said by “competition in Hollywood,” he was referring to “having a sufficient number of vibrant and robust entities that can and will aggressively compete against each other to produce and distribute films, series, live events and more for decades to come.”
Netflix has more than 300 million streaming subscribers worldwide; the company stopped reporting quarterly subscriber figures this year. WBD ended the third quarter of 2025 with 128.0 million streaming subscribers, an increase of 2.3 million subscribers from Q2. Those include customers of HBO Max as well as Discovery+ and its sports-streaming services.
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At least initially, Netflix said it would operate HBO Max (and Warner Bros.’ studio operations) independently.
Netflix, in announcing the deal, spun it as providing “more choice and greater value for consumers.” How exactly? “By adding the deep film and TV libraries and HBO and HBO Max programming, Netflix members will have even more high-quality titles from which to choose,” the company said. In addition, Netflix will be able to “optimize its plans for consumers,” suggesting it’s looking to put together Netflix-HBO Max bundles of some kind. The company also asserted that the deal will result in “more opportunities for the creative community.”
Netflix can argue that it is nowhere near a monopolist: The streamer’s execs routinely point out on the streaming giant’s earnings calls that even in its most mature markets, including the U.S., Netflix represents less than 10% of total TV viewing (a stat meant to show it still has future growth opportunities).
For the month of October 2025, Netflix had a 8.0% share of U.S. TV viewing time, per Nielsen, behind YouTube (12.9%). Warner Bros. Discovery, including HBO Max and Discovery+, had 1.3% share.
From Variety US