On Aug. 17, 2023, with members of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA still on strike, WGA’s research and policy director Laura Blum-Smith said in a speech to the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice that the rising wave of mergers in Hollywood was one of the many reasons why her guild’s members were on the picket lines.
“Harmful mergers and attempts to monopolize markets are a recurring theme in the history of media and entertainment,” she warned.
She added: “Wall Street continues to push for more consolidation among our employers despite the industry’s history of mergers that failed to deliver any of the consumer benefits they’ve claimed that left writers and audiences worse off with less diversity of content and fewer choices.”