The Writers Guild of America has become the latest group to challenge Paramount’s $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, filing a lawsuit that seeks to block the merger on the grounds it would cause “specific harm” to movie and TV writers working across the U.S.

Merger Details

A Paramount-Warner merger “threatens the economic and creative health of the American entertainment industry,” reads the federal complaint, which was filed by both the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East (jointly the WGA). The union argued that the merger would create less competitors and give the larger company “both the incentive and the ability” to lower wages and the number of projects that offer workers employment.

According to the WGA, a Warner-Paramount tie-up would bring together two of the five last legacy studios in Hollywood, putting Warner’s HBO Max, its libraries filled with popular titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN under the same roof of Paramount-owned CBS, movies like “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service.

Response from Paramount

In response, Skydance-owned Paramount maintained that a combined Warner-Paramount would allow the company to “expand opportunities for writers, not shrink them.” It also reiterated pledges to release at least 30 movies a year with a 45-day window exclusive to theaters — and said it would continue to commission from independent production companies while maintaining “two distinct film studios.”

The WGA’s complaint arrives a day after 12 states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit challenging the deal, alleging that it would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for moviegoers and cable TV customers nationwide.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.