Newsom Forces AG Bonta To Drop $111B Hollywood Merger Lawsuit For 2028 Run episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 17, 2026 · 17 MIN

Newsom Forces AG Bonta To Drop $111B Hollywood Merger Lawsuit For 2028 Run

from News For Reasonable People · host Sean Reynolds

Governor Gavin Newsom is pressuring California Attorney General Rob Bonta to abandon the state's lawsuit blocking the $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger — and the motive is textbook political self-interest. With a 2028 presidential run in the works, Newsom can't afford to be the man who gutted Hollywood's job base. So instead of letting his own AG fight for consumers, he's demanding a quiet out-of-court settlement before the case goes to trial.Bonta filed suit alongside a 12-state blue-state coalition arguing the merger harms competition and consumers. The DOJ already greenlit the deal. European regulators cleared it. The UK culture secretary waved it through. But Bonta pushed forward anyway — until the governor's office made the call. This is what happens when an attorney general's independence runs headfirst into one man's presidential calendar.David Ellison's team has made the case that Hollywood's old model is already collapsing: less than 20% of viewer time goes to traditional content, YouTube now dominates, and streaming has rewritten the economics of the entire industry. Whether this merger helps or hurts consumers, Newsom's interference proves that in California, law enforcement answers to ambition first.Subscribe to @reasonablenews for daily news commentary from Bellevue, WA — Pacific Northwest politics, urban policy, and the stories the mainstream would rather skip.#NFRP #Newsom #CaliforniaGO PREMIUM WITH REASONABLE+ FOR UNCENSORED ACCESS 🌟https://ReasonableTV.com/🛍️ MERCH - https://Store.ReasonableTV.com/💬 JOIN our FREE Discord Community! Share stories, chat with fellow enthusiasts, and stay in the loop: https://discord.com/invite/uJGWFpgDcY👍🏼 SMASH that LIKE button & SUBSCRIBE for daily videos that dive into the latest news! https://youtube.com/c/NewsForReasonablePeopleSTAY CONNECTED:🔗 Rumble - https://Rumble.com/c/NewsForReasonablePeople🔗 Facebook - https://www.Facebook.com/NewsForReasonablePeople🔗 iTunes - https://Apple.co/2MkFziJ🔗 Spotify - https://Spoti.fi/2Dh8EoL

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Aug 17, 2026

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Newsom Forces AG Bonta To Drop $111B Hollywood Merger Lawsuit For 2028 Run

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