Netflix Warner Bros Merger is "Catastrophic" Theater Owners Tell Senate Lawmakers
Deadline • • business
Key Points:
- Cinema United, representing over 31,000 U.S. movie screens and 30,000 internationally, warned the Senate antitrust subcommittee that Netflix’s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. could be economically and culturally catastrophic, leading to fewer theaters, shorter theatrical windows, reduced revenue, job losses, and fewer movies shown in theaters.
- The trade group expressed skepticism about Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ claim of a 45-day exclusive theatrical window, noting that such a short window would still harm the theatrical business, as typical streaming windows usually occur 90-100 days after a movie’s cinema release.
- Cinema United highlighted concerns that the merger would consolidate production and distribution power into a single dominant streaming platform, which could negatively impact theaters,