Tom Steyer Believes Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Amounts to a Right-Wing Takeover of Media

As Paramount and California’s most powerful prosecutor volley about the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the man vying to be the state’s top official has a clear message: it can’t stand.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire progressive currently running thirdin the seven-person gubernatorial race, says he would support a lawsuit against the merger brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta (or any potential successor). He also said he would support stronger state legislation to restrict mergers of the size of Par-WBD in the future.

One big reason? Free speech.

“This is a right-wing takeover of media,” Steyer told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday of David Ellison and Paramount successfully winning the bid for WBD and its CNN jewel. “Just the continued attempt by the right-wing to control information. You know, when you’re trying to have a coup, the two things you control are the army and the TV stations,” Steyer added, seemingly also referring to President Trump’s military decisions in Iran and Venezuela without Congressional approval. “That’s what we’re seeing.”

Steyer believes that if Ellison — who has made a number of public appearances with Trump including hosting a dinner party for the President last month — would be allowed to purchase CNN, the center-left network would become an abject mouthpiece for the President.

“I am one of the people in this world who thought that Ted Turner was an ace — incredibly creative, incredibly forward thinking,” Steyer said, citing the recently deceased CNN founder. “And to take the news network that brought you the Iraq War and basically was the most trusted place in news, and turning it over to one of Donald Trump’s cronies — are you kidding?”

He added, “It’s buying credibility when you have none. That’s all it is.”

For his part, Bonta has expressed concerns about the merger, saying in a letter back in February (when both Par and Netflix were in play as buyers) that “the proposed Warner Brotherstransactions must receive a full and robust review, and California is taking a very close look.We are committed to fighting market consolidation that we find unlawful.” Bontaheld a press briefing Monday in which he decried potential “higher prices, lower wages, fewer jobs, less quality, less choice,” echoing a grassroots movement that has also made that case in Hollywood.Bonta could have some leverage to extract concessions, but the track record of a state AG stopping a national media merger is thin indeed.

Paramount legal chief Makan Delrahim recently replied in a letter to the AG that “Paramount’s proposed merger with WBD will help drive meaningful improvements for movie theaters and their audiences.”CNN is not the focus of the latest parry but would almost surely be a part of any action Bonta took.

A governor’s support would surely pave his way. Republican Steve Hilton, the frontrunner who has been endorsed by Trump and served as a longtime Fox News host, will almost surely not object to the merger. Xavier Becerra, the former California AG and Democratic frontrunner, has not made a major statement on the tie-up either.

Steyer had sharp words for his Republican rival, especially after the GOP frontrunner told THR two weeks ago that “we want to really change behavior, we may have to do something extravagant” andannounced a potential 60 percent film tax credit to that end.

“The idea that Steve Hilton is going to protect Hollywood is insane,” Steyer said Tuesday. “Hollywood is about free speech. Speech and creativity andpoking at the status quo. And what they [Republicans] are obviously trying to have is a state medium which is always boring, is always stupid, is always the exact opposite of creative.”

The candidate was more circumspect on the question of film tax credits, declining for the moment to put a number on the percentage he’d like to see under his governorship. He did say that he wanted the existing credit — which usually runs between 35 percent and 45 percent — to go to above-the-line expenses as well as below-the-line ones, a move producers have pushed for. He reiterated his support that it should be uncapped as opposed to the current $750 million annual limit.

But he added a caveat. “I view the tax credit as a partial answer. That’s the easy answer. But the other truth is, we need to get rid of overblown regulation to make sure that especially small productions can afford to shoot in California,” Steyer said.

He elaborated that, more generally, he wants to protect workers and the industry in California — IATSE has endorsed Steyer — but said he thought a wholesale focus on tax credits missed the point.

“We have to bring regulations under control, we have to bring costs under control, we have to support the industry more broadly, with arts funding and apprenticeships and all these things that make sure we have an amazing ecosystem,” he said, noting that lowering housing and other costs, as he has pledged to do, would also help the industry. “In the short run the answer is tax credits, but in the long run it’s driving down costs and building up capabilities. And I want to win in the long run.”