Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Overseas: Will EU, U.K. Approve Deal?

With Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery likely to soon get the go-ahead from the European Union, the next question will be whether the U.K.’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), will follow suit.

The prospects are that the U.K. won’t block the deal, but may throw in an extra hurdle, according to Max von Thun, director of Europe at the Brussels-based Open Markets Institute. 

The CMA has two options, according to Von Thun. Either they follow suit with the EU, or “they decide to be tougher,” he said. This would involve a longer investigation and imposing some additional “remedies” beyond those being reportedly requested by Brussels.

According to the Financial Times and other outlets, the European Commission’s anti-trust watchdog is currently hammering out final details of its approval of the mega-merger and discussing the condition that Paramount would have to exit its United International Pictures joint venture with Universal. UIP is currently active as a distributor in several European territories, including Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

“I think Paramount will be perfectly happy to dump that, if it means they get their merger approved in the whole of Europe,” Von Thun said.

But in the U.K., the CMA could also require further remedies such as “some binding commitments on things around film releases,” he noted, adding: “I could potentially see that happening, because the creative industries and the film industry in the U.K. are so strong.” Ultimately, however, he does not expect the CMA to block the deal because “the transatlantic relationship is still quite an important thing for the U.K.,” he said, after pointing out that Donald Trump has “given this deal his blessing.”

Paramount CEO David Ellison has pledged to release a combined 30 films a year from Paramount and Warner Bros. in the…