FCC chair tells CNBC WBD-Paramount merger deal ‘cleaner’ than Netflix

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has told CNBC that Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery is “cleaner” than Netflix’s, adding he expected it to be approved “pretty quickly.”

“There’s a lot of concerns when Netflix was the potential buyer there,” Carr said on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday. “That particular combination raised a lot of competition concerns.”

Paramount Skydance put in a revised offer to buy the entirety of WBD last week at $31 per share, up from $30 per share, which the WBD board deemed superior to an existing Netflix proposal.

Netflix had been set to buy the media giant’s studio and streaming businesses for $27.75 per share, but said this was “no longer financially attractive” in light of Paramount’s offer.

Carr spoke with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in a wide-ranging discussion about the WBD-Paramount merger, which requires regulators’ signoff.

Carr told CNBC that Netflix “would have a very difficult path” getting regulatory approval, adding that Paramount’s was “a lot cleaner, does not raise at all the same types of concerns.”

“I think there’s some real consumer benefits that can emerge from it,” he added.

Both deals raised antitrust questions around the U.S. theatrical industry, prompting concerns over potential job losses or smaller film slates in Hollywood. Netflix’s proposed combination also spurred questions around streaming dominance, as it would have brought together two of the most popular streaming services in Netflix and WBD’s HBO Max.

On Monday, Paramount said it planned to release at least 30 films annually, or 15 per studio. Executives also said it would combine its streaming service Paramount+ with HBO Max into one service once the transaction was complete.

It’s unclear what the regulatory process for Paramount and WBD will entail. The FCC typically reviews deals that include one of the nation’s broadcasts, including Paramount’s CBS, and backed Paramount’s merger with Skydance last year.

“If there’s any FCC role at all, it’ll be a pretty minimal role. And I think this is a good deal, and I think it should get through pretty quickly,” Carr added.

Unlike Netflix’s proposed deal, Paramount’s bid encompasses WBD’s pay-TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and TNT.

Paramount has offered a $7 billion breakup fee if the deal doesn’t gain regulatory clearance. It also already paid the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD owed to Netflix because that deal was cancelled.

Some of the concerns around a Netflix-WBD deal included higher consumer prices and reduced competition.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in December that the potential deal “could be a problem” because of the increased market share it would…