Media Consolidation

More Grabbing ALL the media

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Article in the New York Times, by By Lauren HirschMichael M. Grynbaum and Benjamin Mullin, 2/26/26

Headline:  “Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover”

Subhead:  “The move was a stunning development in the long-running corporate battle for the storied media giant.”

“Netflix said on Thursday that it would not counter Paramount’s higher bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a stunning development that essentially assures the media giant will end up under the control of a rival bidder, the technology heir David Ellison.

“Netflix had beat out Paramount in December to sign an $83 billion deal to acquire a large portion of Warner Bros. Discovery’s business, including HBO and the storied Warner Bros. movie studio. The acquisition was poised to cement Netflix, once a striving outsider to the film and entertainment business, as the pre-eminent juggernaut of Hollywood. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/business/warner-bros-discovery-paramount-deal-netflix.html

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 2/26/26

Headline: “Paramount wins bid to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery after Netflix bows out”

“Netflix on Thursday said it would not match a bid from Paramount seeking to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, the sprawling media empire that includes legacy brands in news and entertainment like CNN and HBO.

“News of the streamer bowing out of its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery came just minutes after the David Zaslav-led company said it considered the hostile bid mounted by Paramount to be a ‘superior’ offer to the one it struck with the streamer late last year. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5757985-netflix-declines-warner-discovery/

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 2/26/26

Headline: “Paramount Skydance’s Takeover of Warner Bros. Is Bad News for Workers, Consumers and Free Expression”

“On Thursday, the Warner Bros. Discovery board decided to abandon its plans to sell the company to Netflix in favor of a Paramount Skydance bid. . .”

Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said:  “The Netflix deal was disastrous but this new one is even worse. The idea that Paramount should be allowed to control CBS and CNN should be unthinkable, especially given their record of turning the Tiffany Network into a trash heap. The Ellisons have already promised the Trump administration that they’ll make sweeping changes to CNN given the chance, and we know what that means: firing journalists, spiking important stories, and replacing the news with empty propaganda. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/paramount-skydances-takeover-warner-bros-bad-news-workers-consumers-and-free-expression

Feasting on the Remains?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 2/22/26

Headline:  “Picking off the Post”

Subhead:  “After The Washington Post’s retreat from local news and sports, rival outlets are racing to fill the void, scooping up displaced talent and capitalizing on the opportunity.”

“In the weeks since The Washington Post largely abandoned its local coverage of its namesake city—gutting its metro team and shuttering its sports desk—a question has hovered over Washington’s media circles: Will another outlet make a serious play for the territory?

“Washington is one of the country’s largest and wealthiest media markets, home to some 6 million residents across the metropolitan area. And in the aftermath of The Post’s sweeping round of layoffs that cut more than a third of the newsroom, a meaningful gap has opened in local coverage. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/washington-post-local-sports-coverage

CBS Loses Training Wheels?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/19/26

Headline:  “Opinion | CBS keeps finding new ways to have a bad week”

Subhead:  “Anderson Cooper’s exit from ‘60 Minutes’ and Stephen Colbert’s clash with the network add to months of ugly news for CBS“

“It has been another awkward and miserable week at CBS.

“The network has been in the news a lot. And not in a positive way.

“First, CBS News lost one of the most respected journalists in the business when Anderson Cooper announced he was stepping away from the venerable ’60 Minutes’ after nearly two decades. . .”

“Then came the whole Stephen Colbert drama. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/cbs-news-anderson-cooper-stephen-colbert/

Media in Crisis?

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Article in Common Dreams by Victor Packard, 2/17/26

Headline:  “Why the US Media Is in Crisis and How to Rescue It”

“What we’re witnessing isn’t a singular breakdown, but discrete and cascading layers of ‘media capture’ by capitalists, oligarchs, and authoritarians that produce censorship, exclusion, and democratic failure.

“From the recent gutting of the Washington Post to the rightward lurch of CBS, the sheer proliferation and variation of media failures and attacks on the press during Trump 2.0 are difficult to grasp. Regulatory bodies have become political weapons. Major news organizations have complied and retreated. Media ownership has consolidated in the hands of a few feckless billionaires. Taken together, these developments endanger our information and communication systems, our First Amendment freedoms, and our democracy. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-media-crisis

More Gloming Up Media?

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Article in Reuters by Milana Vinn & Dawn Kopecki, 2/17/26

Headline:  “Warner Bros rejects revised Paramount bid, but remains open to a final offer”

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O), opens new tab on Tuesday rejected Paramount Skydance’s (PSKY.O), opens new tab latest $30-a-share hostile bid, but gave the rival Hollywood studio seven days to submit a “best and final” offer to top an existing agreement to sell its businesses including HBO Max and “Harry Potter” franchise to Netflix.

“Paramount informally broached an even higher per-share price of $31, Warner Bros said, apparently enticing the board to the table. But its response to Paramount indicates Warner Bros prefers its deal with Netflix, and the odds of a switch are long. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/warner-bros-rejects-paramounts-revised-offer-gives-studio-week-negotiate-better-2026-02-17/

Paramount Choosing News?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 2/17/26

Headline:  “Paramount is mangling CBS — and CNN may be next”

Subhead:  “Trump’s corruption makes capitulation a media business plan”

“The Tuesday announcement by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, that it is reopening deal talks with Paramount marks the latest example of President Donald Trump’s corrupt effort to quell dissent by pushing media companies into the hands of his supporters.

“Warner Bros. agreed in December to sell its movie and streaming assets to Netflix and spin off its cable networks, including CNN, into a new entity. But Paramount, owned by David Ellison, the son of megabillionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison, is mounting a hostile bid to take over the entire company — and the Ellisons have a powerful ally in the White House. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/paramount-mangling-cbs-and-cnn-may-be-next

Manipulating the News?

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Article in The Guardian by JAne Martinson, 2/14/26

Headline:  “Learn this from Bezos and the Washington Post: with hyper-capitalists in charge, your news is not safe”

Subhead:  “His shameful stewardship of a once great title highlights how much we lose when private interest eclipses the public good”

“. . .Job cuts in an industry that has struggled financially since the internet came into existence and killed its business model is hardly new, but last week’s brutal cull of hundreds of journalists at the Bezos-owned Washington Post marks a new low. . .”

“Why it happened is still baffling, at least for anyone not inside the head of one of the world’s richest men. Marty Baron, the Post’s former editor, highlighted the owner’s “sickening” efforts to curry favour with Donald Trump in a “case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction”. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/14/jeff-bezos-washington-post-news-not-safe

CBS Still Shrinking

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/13/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Buyouts signal growing fracture inside CBS News“

Subhead:  “Recent departures sharpen scrutiny of Bari Weiss’ vision”

“Unrest continues at CBS News.

“As I linked to in the newsletter earlier this week, the New York Post’s Alexandra Steigrad reported that about a quarter of ‘CBS Evening News’ staffers eligible for buyouts have chosen to take them ahead of possible impending layoffs under new CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/buyouts-layoffs-cbs-news-bari-weiss/

WaPo – Making Someone Happy

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 2/13/26

Headline:  “Like Melania Doc, WaPo Layoffs Are Another Way for Bezos to Suck Up to Trump”

“. . .Bezos—who remains Amazon’s executive chair and its largest shareholder—certainly has incentive to bribe Trump, after experiencing Trump’s wrath in his first term.

“In 2019, amid the Washington Post’s critical reporting on Trump, Amazon lost a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing deal, an event that unnerved Bezos. He was ‘deeply hurt’ and ‘sat there going: “This is not right,”‘ a person who met with Bezos days later told the Financial Times (3/20/25).

So in 2024, when it looked like Trump might return to the Oval Office, Bezos quietly reached out, and even suggested a running mate for Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/like-melania-doc-wapo-layoffs-are-another-way-for-bezos-to-suck-up-to-trump/

Snipping at CBS?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 2/12/26

Headline:  “The Coming CBS News Cuts”

Subhead:  “As CBS News staff quietly brace for another round of layoffs, Status has learned key new details about the cuts executives are planning behind the scenes.”

“Last month, when Bari Weiss hosted her inaugural town hall with CBS News staffers, one topic was clearly on the minds of her anxious workforce: the prospect of more layoffs. CBS News had already made cuts in October as part of a broader workforce reduction at parent company Paramount. Dozens of staffers—though fewer than 100—were affected by that round.

“ ‘Are there more CBS News cuts coming?’ a CBS News staffer asked the new editor in chief at the town hall.

“Weiss did not answer directly. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-layoffs-bari-weiss