Warren: DOJ should pay ‘close attention’ to media mergers

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is running for president, is calling for federal regulators to look more closely at a wave of mergers involving entertainment giants.

“First Disney acquired 21st Century Fox. Now CBS and Viacom are merging. Consolidation raises serious concerns for consumers, employees, and the entire sector. The Department of Justice should be paying close attention,” Warren tweeted Thursday.

First Disney acquired 21st Century Fox.

Now CBS and Viacom are merging.

Consolidation raises serious concerns for consumers, employees, and the entire sector. The Department of Justice should be paying close attention. https://t.co/weQGTRL1ga

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 15, 2019

{mosads}The planned CBS-Viacom merger, announced Tuesday, would result in an entertainment conglomerate bringing in more than $28 billion in revenue.

In another high-profile merger earlier this month, Gannett and Gatehouse, the two largest newspaper companies in the nation, announced they would combine.

Warren has frequently warned that consolidation among America’s biggest companies that may run afoul of antitrust laws, often specifically addressing the tech sector.

In March, the Massachusetts senator published a plan to break up major tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon, arguing their market domination has stifled competition.

“As these companies have grown larger and more powerful, they have used their resources and control over the way we use the Internet to squash small businesses and innovation, and substitute their own financial interests for the broader interests of the American people,” Warren wrote in a March blog post.

An August poll found that 68 percent of respondents believed such giants should be subject to federal antitrust reviews, and 67 percent said they had reduced competition in the market.