David Ellison Meets With UK Culture Secretary, Creatives As Paramount Takes WBD Lobbying Effort Across The Pond

Paramount CEO David Ellison this week met with UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy as well as prominent European creatives, Deadline hears from sources, as the studio took its fight for Warner Bros Discovery overseas. Bloomberg earlier reported that top Paramount executives convened with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU regulators in a European charm offensive seemingly designed to shore up support for a hostile takeover bid . It’s attempting to derail a Warner Bros. deal with Netflix . The EU would need to approve either agreement. Watch on Deadline We hear from sources that the preservation of cinema was a key talking point for Ellison during his meetings this week. That’s likely to play well with European leaders, especially in France, which has always had strict theatrical windowing - so much so that the Cannes Film Festival refuses to play Netflix films in its Competition lineup. Hollywood has been equally concerned over what a Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros Studios would mean for the future of theatrical releasing, which has suffered a series of body blows since Covid. The streamer has mostly skirted movie theaters, although it recently attempted to soften its stance. Experts who keep a close eye on the European Commission’s competition work told Deadline after the $83 billion cash and stock Netflix transaction was announced that it would be surprising if the streamer’s agreement was vetoed, but said any deal would likely trigger an investigation that could recommend merger conditions. They suggested remedies could include compelling Netflix to honor and maintain film and TV licensing agreements to prevent it from holding a monopoly over content. Paramount and regulatory experts in the U.S. and UK have zeroed in on streaming market share dominance - by combining the world’s biggest OTT service with HBO Max - as Netflix’ biggest potential obstacle. Stateside at least that will depend on the definition of video market, which Netflix argues also includes giants YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and others. WBD put itself up for sale last fall and inked an agreement with Netflix in December, rejecting a rival $30-a-share all-cash offer from Paramount. The company led by Ellison, whose father is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, took its bid directly to WBD stockholders amid a massive PR battle as well as a court fight. Paramount earlier today lost a bid to fast-track a suit seeking additional financial disclosures from WBD around the sale process. In a multi-pronged attack, Paramount also said it’s planning a proxy fight and will put up an alternate slate of directors for a vote at WBD’s annual meeting.

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