US Senate Holds Hearing Over Netflix-WBD Deal

Netflix found itself under the spotlight today at a U.S. Senate hearing with claims it was pushing “propaganda” reports THR & Deadline.

The hearing was about the streamer’s upcoming $83 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Pictures, with multiple Republican senators on the attack. Texas Senator Ted Cruz reportedly said, “Netflix has long been a left-wing company. How are people at home… feel even remotely confident that if this merger happens, the combined entity would not simply be a propaganda outlet pushing one particular political view with much greater market power than you have now.”

Fellow conservative senator Eric Schmitt said, “The overwhelming majority of your stuff right now is overwhelmingly woke, and it’s not reflective of what the American people want to see. Both you and Netflix both have made a habit of promoting DEI and wokeness.” Schmitt then went on to cite race swapping as an example.

Sarandos responded, saying, “Senator Schmidt, we have a great deal of programming on Netflix for all left, right and center. We have state-of-the-art tools for parents to manage what their kids see on Netflix”.

Sarandos was also asked about his main argument that the company’s real rivals are the likes of YouTube, with Senator Mike Lee asking about the differences between Netflix and YouTube, saying “[YouTube] is not full-length feature films written by screenwriters produced by full studios, is it?”

Sarandos countered, saying it was “increasingly the exact same programming” with sophisticated content from creators on YouTube and the recent purchase of the rights to the Oscars for the platform: “About 50% of the engagement on YouTube today happens in the living room on a TV, not on … a mobile service, and growing very fast on television. So if you’re watching YouTube, you’re not watching HBO Max, you’re not watching Netflix, you’re not watching CBS.”

The trades indicate the subcommittee has little real power over a merger such as this, which lies in the hands of the Department of Justice, which “holds the regulatory and legal keys,” adding that today’s hearing was largely ‘performative’.