Paramount, overseen by Larry Ellison's son, David,
is trying to convince Justice Department regulators and Warner Bros. shareholders that
the Netflix deal is too dicey
and that they should instead side with Paramount,
said sources who were not authorized to comment publicly.

Paramount has attempted numerous maneuvers to gain the upper hand.

"This deal was never going to be decided on the merits of the offer or rigid antitrust considerations,"
said Gabriel Kahn,
a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

⚠️"This was a classic Trump administration deal where proximity to the president counts a lot more than financial terms."

Trump's Saturday night outburst came after Susan Rice, during a podcast interview last week, said that
“it is not going to end well” for corporations, media outlets
and law firms that
“bent the knee” to Trump should Democrats regain control in Washington.

The comments of Rice,
a Netflix director for eight years,
came as Paramount-owned CBS was involved in a headline-grabbing dust-up with late-night talk-show host,
Stephen Colbert,
over Trump's Federal Communications Commission chair's threat to modify a rule requiring that broadcasters to give political candidates equal time.

Colbert has accused his company of kowtowing to Trump, which CBS has denied.

Netflix's Sarandos and Paramount's David Ellison have made separate treks to the White House.

In October, Paramount hired a former Trump administration official,
Makan Delrahim,
who oversaw the Justice Department's antitrust division during Trump's first term,
to quarterback Paramount's campaign to win over regulators and politicians.

A formidable ally
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
— recently visited Delrahim on Paramount's Melrose Avenue lot in Los Angeles.

While there, Cruz said he was a fan of the CBS show "NCIS," which prompted Paramount executives to put together an impromptu tour of the "NCIS Origins" soundstages,
according to a person familiar with the visit.

#LarryEllison #SusanRice #TedSarandos
#StephenColbert