After Netflix Drops Warner Bros. Bid, GOP Senator Cancels Hearing

With Netflix dropping its bid for Warner Bros., the company no longer will face the additional scrutiny of a key Senate panel next week.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), gave no indication of whether he would hold a hearing on Paramount‘s proposed bid for all of Warner Bros. Discovery.

In a statement, Lee said, “Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers raised serious antitrust concerns. When a massive streaming platform consolidates even more TV shows and movies behind a single paywall, American families lose. Walking away from this deal is a win for consumers.”

A hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, the second on the proposed Netflix transaction after co-CEO Ted Sarandos testified earlier this month.

Lee has been a critic of the Netflix-WB deal from the start, but has not sounded the alarm about a Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction.

Within minutes of Netflix announcing that it would not make a rival bid for Warner Bros., the top Democrat on the antitrust subcommittee, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), called for Paramount CEO David Ellison to testify next week instead. Booker had invited Ellison to join Sarandos at the hearing earlier this month, but Ellison declined.

An aide to Booker said, “In his January 29 letter to Senator Booker, Mr. Ellison assured the subcommittee that Paramount would be willing to testify before Congress were it to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. In light of today’s announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery has designated Paramount’s offer a Company Superior Proposal, next week’s hearing presents a timely and appropriate opportunity for Mr. Ellison to make good on that commitment.”