NBC and CNBC report on likely Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger

I'm taking a break from Emmy Awards coverage for this week's Sunday entertainment feature to examine a business of entertainment story, a reported offer for Paramount to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. I begin with NBC News explaining What a Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery could mean for television.

Paramount Skydance is preparing to make a bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. NBC News' Tom Llamas talks to media and sports reporter Alex Sherman about what this potential merger could mean for film and television.

This could have major effects on entertainment production and consumption, although the resulting company would still not be as big as Amazon and Apple, which are primarily technology companies, or Disney, which definitely is still a media company. CNBC Television was thinking of a different media company when it uploaded Combining Paramount and Warner Bros. could create real competition to Netflix: Puck's Matt Belloni.

Matt Belloni, Puck founding partner, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss reports of Paramount Skydance preparing an all-cash takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, impact on the media industry, and more.

I was wondering if/when Joe Kernan would say something that would annoy me and he lived down to my expectations by speculating on what this merger would do to CNN's personnel. CBS News and CNN merging would likely result in a more conservative news outlet, which would make Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump get out of the deal's way. It's a legitimate topic that I'm concerned about, but Kernan's attitude rubbed me the wrong way. Good thing Andrew Ross Sorkin stepped in to change the tone.

Speaking of Sorkin, he kicked off the questioning in David Ellison is trying to do something no one's ever done, says LightShed's Rich Greenfield.

Rich Greenfield, LightShed Partners co-founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss reports of Paramount Skydance preparing an all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, impact on the rest of the media industry, prospect of Comcast making a competing bid, and more.

When I first heard about a potential buyer for Warner Bros., it was NBCUniversal, which would make sense for Universal Studios theme parks; Harry Potter's movie and theme park IP would under the same umbrella instead of being split. That was under the Biden Administration. As Greenfield pointed out, this won't happen with Hoover Cleveland in charge. Besides, the Ellisons can outbid NBCUniversal, so it won't happen from a business perspective, either.

There was a lot of talk about a potential purchase of TikTok, but I'm going to save that for a future post. Speaking of which, stay tuned for a post about tonight's Emmy winners tomorrow.