{"id":1072,"date":"2026-07-20T11:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:09:13","slug":"paramount-warner-bros-merger-will-make-media-more-maga-and-more-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1072","title":{"rendered":"Paramount\/Warner Bros. merger will make media more MAGA \u2014 and more boring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump\u2019s Great American State Fair was widely mocked\u00a0as a great American flop: overpriced, uncomfortable and, above all, dull.<\/p>\n

Read more Her brother was convicted of terrorism over a protest he didn\u2019t even attend<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, bad news for fans of fun: Trump\u2019s billionaire buddies, Larry and David Ellison, are about to bring MAGA-ified misery to the rest of entertainment. Unless the courts side with 12 states who sued to stop the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, movie theaters, cable TV and other entertainment products could become a lot more MAGA \u2014 and you\u2019ll have to pay more for the privilege of being bored.<\/p>\n

Larry and David Ellison are the father-and-son duo behind Paramount\u2019s attempted purchase of Warner Bros., a move that would consolidate most of Hollywood into a few hands and dramatically reduce free market competition in the entertainment industry. The two often present, especially in court documents, as simple businessmen just trying to make money. But in reality, Larry Ellison was called a \u201cshadow president\u201d by a Trump adviser speaking to Wired last year. The Ellisons aren\u2019t just in this for money. They are in it for power \u2014 and their vision of remaking the country and even world in their MAGA-centric image.<\/p>\n

\n

Above all, MAGA is bad at culture, too strapped to their narrow interests and bigotries to understand what makes entertainment actually entertaining.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Whether they succeed in the long run remains to be seen, but in the process, they are going to make your movie-going and likely TV-viewing experiences more tiresome. Above all, MAGA is bad at culture, too strapped to their narrow interests and bigotries to understand what makes entertainment actually entertaining.<\/p>\n

Last week, the of a dozen states, along with the Writers Guild of America West and East, filed suit to stop the merger, which has unsurprisingly been approved by Trump\u2019s corrupt Justice Department. (Full disclosure: I\u2019m a member of WGAE.) Labor and economic concerns fuel these lawsuits, but t<\/span>he consumer experience is front and center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.,\u201d California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

On the podcast \u201cThe Town with Matthew Belloni,\u201d he argued that the quality of movie theaters themselves will decline even more if the merger goes through. \u201cYou won\u2019t have comfortable seating,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cYou won\u2019t have the same quality and variety at concession stands.\u201d<\/p>\n