Paramount has completed its $US113 billion ($162 billion) takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, creating one of the world's biggest entertainment and media companies.
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Paramount → complete → companies
The new company will be led by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose family has close ties with US President Donald Trump.
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family → lead → Trump
The mega-merger brings some of Hollywood's biggest film, television and news brands under one roof, from The Godfather, Top Gun and Star Trek to Harry Potter, Friends, Game of Thrones and the DC universe.
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merger → bring → Thrones
For audiences, it means an enormous catalogue of movies and television shows is controlled by one company.
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catalogue → mean → company
It also brings together two businesses already serving Australian audiences, with Paramount's Network 10 and Paramount+ joining Warner Bros Discovery's HBO Max.
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Network → bring → Max
But for Hollywood and the wider media industry, there are concerns about what happens when fewer companies control more of the entertainment and news we consume.
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we → be → entertainment
Its stable includes Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, Star Trek, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park and The Godfather.
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stable → include → Mission
Warner Bros Discovery brings Harry Potter, Friends, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, The Big Bang Theory, Succession, The White Lotus and the DC universe.
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Discovery → bring → Us
The deal also reshapes Hollywood's traditional studio landscape, combining two of the five major legacy studios, Paramount and Warner Bros, leaving Disney, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures as the other three.
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deal → reshape → three
"It's an extraordinary moment for Hollywood and for the media writ large, and it's a moment for corporates and conglomeration as well," Mr Folkenflik said.
"
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Folkenflik → writ → corporates
You have these two proud Hollywood titles, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers Studios under the same roof, you now have CBS News and CNN under the same roof, you have Star Trek and DC Comics under the same roof.
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you → have → roof
The merger comes at a difficult time for the entertainment industry.
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merger → come → industry
Traditional studios are competing with global streaming services, while production costs are rising and audiences are increasingly watching content online.
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audiences → compete → content
The new company is also carrying significant debt and has committed to major cost savings.
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company → carry → savings
Hollywood journalist Kim Masters, a former editor-at-large at The Hollywood Reporter, said the company was under significant financial pressure.
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company → say → pressure
"This company is absolutely strapped with debt and needs to, according to the agreement with their lenders, they need to do some things very quickly to get things in shape," Ms Masters said.
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Masters → strap → shape
"And so therefore, Hollywood is cringing in terms of those lay-offs."
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Hollywood → cringe → offs
She also said the merger left filmmakers with fewer major studios to approach for funding.
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merger → say → funding
"So we're pretty much down to … Universal, Sony, Apple, but we don't know to what extent Apple is really interested in doing movies," she said.
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she → know → movies
"You know, it's just a loss of potentially two studio buyers for that kind of product."
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it → know → product
And she said that could make it harder for directors working on films without an obvious commercial appeal to find backing.
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directors → say → backing
"I think it's going to be more difficult for our auteur directors to find that kind of backing," she said.
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she → think → backing
Does a bigger library mean more choice?
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library → mean → choice
The merger brings together a huge amount of existing content.
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merger → bring → content
It's how many companies are left deciding what gets made, funded, promoted and distributed.
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what → leave → ?
Professor Matthew Ricketson from Deakin University said the bigger issue was the concentration of media ownership itself.
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issue → say → ownership
"Diversity of views, plurality of views and stories … if there is a lack of diversity of them … that is absolutely not a good thing," he said.
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he → be → them
What could it mean for streaming prices?
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it → mean → prices
The merger also brings together Paramount+ and HBO Max under the same corporate ownership.
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merger → bring → ownership
David Folkenflik said consumers would bear some of the cost of the new company's debt.
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consumers → say → debt
"It's hard to believe those prices won't go up.
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prices → believe → ?
I think the consumers are going to be hit," he said.
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he → think → ?
The company is targeting about $US6 billion a year in savings, and Folkenflik said those savings were likely to come from both staffing and content.
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savings → target → staffing
He said that could affect what audiences were ultimately offered.
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audiences → say → what
"And that means that, you know, prices could potentially ramp up and you could see a diminishment of the combined amount of things offered," he said.
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he → mean → things
And then there's the news
The merger is significant because Paramount Skydance isn't only an entertainment company.
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Skydance → be → ?
It also has major news interests, including CBS News and CNN, while its Australian operations include Network 10.
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operations → have → Network
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday local time he was a strong supporter of the merger.
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he → say → merger
It's gonna be a great company.
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It → go → ?
They're terrific people and it's going to be a great company," Mr Trump said.
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Trump → go → ?
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
