Netflix labels Paramount’s ‘scorched Earth’ claims as ‘absurd’

Netflix has labelled Paramount claims that the streamer is trying to derail its proposed $111bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) as “absurd”.

The rebuttal, which came as the UK’s competition regulator opened its inquiry into the merger, followed reports of a 5 June letter from Paramount’s chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, to the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) antitrust division.

The letter was in response to a Teamsters white paper urging the DoJ to block the transaction unless Paramount gave assurances over job security and threw its weight behind US production.

Delrahim said that Paramount’s scaled-up film, streaming, and linear television offerings could not happen without organised labour and would be “a win for the Teamsters and other labor unions”.

Delrahim continued: “As Paramount pushes forward with its ‘content-first’ growth strategy, firms like Netflix, Amazon MGM, Disney, Universal, Sony, Lionsgate, A24, Apple, and many others will need to respond in kind, presumably by enhancing their own content creation strategies. (Indeed, Netflix’s panic-level response and scorched-earth campaign to try and poison regulators and other stakeholders against the Transaction shows just how seriously Netflix takes Paramount as a scaled competitor.)”

A Netflix spokesperson told Broadcast International sister title, Screen: “These claims from Paramount Skydance are absurd. We walked away from this deal months ago and remain focused on our own business, not theirs.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the regulators to approve this deal and determine if it is in the best interest of the industry and all concerned.”

Netflix agreed a proposal to acquire WBD’s studios and streaming business in late 2025, only to walk away at the end of February when Paramount landed its agreement with WBD chief exec David Zaslav.

Paramount chief exec David Ellison has pledged to release a combined 30 films annually from Paramount and Warner Bros for a minimum 45-day exclusive theatrical window.

Delrahim said he was not asking the DoJ, Teamsters or other involved parties to take Paramount’s intention to grow its output on faith and said content growth strategy was “baked into the entertainment industry itself”.

“Netflix, Amazon, and Disney dominate subscription streaming today. Paramount and WBD both lag far behind the streaming giants – even on a combined basis, Paramount and WBD would represent the number four subscription streaming service today,” Delrahim wrote.

“The parties cannot catch up by standing still. For Paramount and WBD to compete, they need to pursue a transformative transaction like this one and invest aggressively in capturing audiences’ attention by driving fresh, engaging content across the ecosystem of theatrical releases, streaming, and linear television.”

A version of this story first appeared on Broadcast International sister site, Screen.