Paramount Skydance’s planned US$110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.-Discovery (WBD) is currently under review by Canada’s Competition Bureau.
First reported by Do Not Pass Go, the law enforcement agency is investigating the potential impacts on the entertainment business in Canada should Paramount’s massive deal go through. Paramount is set to acquire Warner Bros., one of the last major Hollywood studios, after Netflix backed out of a months-long bid.
As Do Not Pass Go notes, the Competition Bureau is mandated to review large-scale mergers when they reach certain thresholds, such as when the Canadian assets or sales exceed C$93 million or when combined assets or revenues from or into Canada exceed $400 million.
In this case, the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal should surpass these thresholds, given its scope. After all, Paramount is poised to scoop up all of Warner Bros.-Discovery’s assets, which include its film and TV studios, cable and content licenses, and Warner Bros. Games. That’s to say nothing of all the big media franchises that WBD either owns or has major stakes in, such as DC Comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Looney Tunes, and Scooby-Doo.
Warner Bros.’ business in Canada, meanwhile, is extensive. For one, it has historically shot many of its shows here, from “Arrowverse” DC titles like Arrow and The Flash to The Last of Us, as well as having the rights to the popular Canadian kids series Paw Patrol. It also has a game development studio here, Warner Bros. Games Montreal, which was behind 2013’s Batman: Arkham Origins and 2022’s Gotham Knights. Meanwhile, Paramount’s Canadian business includes local productions like Yellowjackets, Canada Shore, and Star Trek series like Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy.
It’s also unclear how the Canadian streaming market might be affected, especially as Paramount chief David Ellison has confirmed plans to merge Paramount+ with WBD’s HBO Max. Since HBO Max isn’t available in Canada, the bulk of HBO content has long been licensed to Bell for its various platforms, including Crave. While Bell recently said that Warner Bros. programming will remain on Crave “for the foreseeable future,” it didn’t clarify exactly how long its current licensing deal — which was signed in late 2024 — will last.
What’s more, Warner Bros. licenses content to other Canadian companies, like Rogers’ deal for Discovery titles and Bell’s own agreement with Rogers to share these specialty channels. Further, the Paramount-owned FAST service Pluto TV has a deal with Corus Entertainment.
Given all of that, there are understandable anti-competition concerns. Experts told Do Not Pass Go that the Bureau will ultimately need to decide whether the Paramount buyout will require divestiture of any assets.
We’ve seen examples of how that could look in another major entertainment deal, Microsoft’s US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. To get the deal approved in the UK, the company had to sell the Call of Duty maker’s cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft. Microsoft also signed 10-year Call of Duty licensing deals with PlayStation and Nintendo in an effort to persuade regulators.
With all of that said, lawyers expressed doubt to Do Not Pass Go that the Competition Bureau would take much action on the merger, with one even saying, “I just don’t know where they would go with it.”
And on a larger level, there are concerns regarding Paramount’s ownership of Warner Bros. in the U.S. and abroad. For one, the Ellison family has close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, and we’ve already seen reports of the company greenlighting projects like Rush Hour 4 just to make him happy.
The Paramount bid being backed by Saudi Arabia is also drawing scrutiny. Beyond wider apprehensions over it being an oligopoly and violating human rights, the Saudi government infamously ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he had been vocally critical of the regime.
Paramount’s proposed acquisition of WBD is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval. WBD shareholders are also set to vote on the deal on April 23.
Image credit: Paramount
Source: Do Not Pass Go
