Netflix vs. Paramount

Listen − 1.0 x + 0:00 23:58 Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts If Warner Bros. Discovery was only a movie house, it would have had one of its best years ever. Two of its films ( One Battle After Another and Sinners ) are front-runners for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and it had a string of critical hits and box-office successes with Superman , Weapons , and A Minecraft Movie . But the company is a media conglomerate that counts HBO and CNN among the brands it owns, and it took on lots of debt; its box-office success in 2025 is not enough to make up for its financial struggles. This year, the company found itself up for auction. After over a hundred years as a major Hollywood studio, Warner Bros. fate seemed unclear. Now months into a process that Netflix formally won, Paramount still hopes to come out on top with a hostile bid. This week even, the billionaire Larry Ellison, whose son, David, controls Paramount, offered a personal guarantee for the deal. The bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is a business story that morphed into a future-of-entertainment story and then recently took an ominous turn into politics. President Donald Trump weighed in, saying he would be “involved” in deciding who wins, which put every party on alert that Trump might be particularly watching what happens to CNN, a cable network he has called “the least trusted name in news” and a “political arm of the Democrat Party.” Trump has sued ABC News, CBS News, the BBC, The New York Times , and The Wall Street Journal . His administration has federally defunded PBS and NPR, and put pressure on networks to cancel late-night shows. In the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war, Trump has hinted that he leans toward Paramount , and this week brought new claims of political interference of the news at the Ellison-run Paramount. 60 Minutes pulled a segment on the harsh conditions at a prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans earlier this year. Bari Weiss, the new head of CBS News, said the story needed more work even though it had apparently been fact-checked and legally vetted, not to mention promoted on air. In this episode of Radio Atlantic , we talk to the Atlantic film critic David Sims about what the outcome of this deal might mean for movie lovers, especially those who hope to keep going to movies in theaters. And we talk to our staff writer Frank Foer about Trump’s increasing influence on the media landscape and his subtle campaign to disappear CNN. The following is a transcript of the episode: Hanna Rosin: I know we’re months from the Oscars, but will you name your top-three picks for Best Picture? David Sims: In terms of who I think may well win? Rosin: Mm. Sims: Or who I want to win? Rosin: Mm . Sims: (...

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