Democrats Just Took the House and the Senate. Get Ready for a Whole Lot of Media Investigations.

In early February, just a few weeks before David Ellison’s Paramount secured its deal to pry Warner Bros. Dicovery from Netflix’s grasp, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and WBD chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell were hauled before Congress to defend their deal. “I want to thank Mr. Sarandos and Mr. Campbell for coming here,” Sen. Cory Booker said in his opening remarks. “It is not fun often to testify before Congress. Sometimes I wonder if it ranks higher than a visit to the proctologist or to the dentist.” What followed were tough, pointed, and sometimes overtly political questions, which Sarandos and Campbell had to navigate. Sen. Hawley, for example, accused Netflix of hosting content that “promotes a transgender ideology.” Ellison had been invited, but declined, citing the fact that, after all, Paramount’s bid had been rejected by WBD. The next Congress is unlikely to accept that answer. Nor can he just ignore Congressional Democrats’ inquiries into his dealings, as he did last year. With Democrats securing the House and the Senate in stunning fashion, the investigations into the Trump administration on Capitol Hill will begin. And there is reason to believe that the administration’s relationship with media companies, both positive and negative, will be among their top priorities. And yes, subpoenas may be in order. Congress may not be able to block any deals they don’t like, but they can inflict pain through investigations and forced disclosures. And attention all CEOs: If Democrats in power get their wish, you should be prepared to testify. A source working for one Democratic senator says that members of Congress in both houses are eager to haul executives in to ask about their deals and any rumored quid pro quos, with Skydance’s mega-deal for WBD and the ongoing Fox-Roku deal drawing particular scrutiny, as is the TikTok U.S. sale to Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. Also of interest are the deals big tech companies like Google, Meta, OpenAI and SpaceX have with the government for data centers, AI, and other services, and, yes, perhaps Amazon’s deal for the Melania Trump documentary, which its chairman Jeff Bezos framed as a “very wise business decision.” Skydance’s move to raise cash from Middle East sovereign wealth funds and others like SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also of interest. Booker made his intentions clear in a statement after Paramount’s settlement with the state AGs: “This merger is the product of corruption hiding in plain sight. Secretary Hegseth stood in the Pentagon press room and said he couldn’t wait for the Ellisons to take over. Paramount was a constant presence at the Justice Department once it needed the deal pushed through. But when Congress asked questions, the company ignored our inquiries and refused invitations to testify. On the night of the shareholder vote, Ellison hosted a dinner honoring President Trump. Then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the official responsible for approving this deal, was in attendance,” Booker wrote. “This administration has turned merger review into a marketplace for political favors,” he continued. “That is why I will examine every merger this administration has approved, and why I will keep fighting to pass the CLEAN Mergers Act, so that no company can ever again buy its way past the law.” At the same time, there is a desire to investigate what they see as overreach by the administration, particularly as it relates to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, which is in the process of attempting to strip Disney’s ABC of its local TV station licenses, and may be in a position to review NBC’s licenses shortly pending the NBCUniversal spinoff from Comcast. Anthropic’s feud with the DOJ may also come under scrutiny. Any one of those deals could see the media companies brought before Congress to address their treatment by the administration, but also expose them to online attacks and revelatory details that they may prefer to avoid. Just look at the child safety hearings held by Congress in 2024, where tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Shou Xhew and Linda Yaccarino were put through the ringer (Zuckerberg memorably was asked to turn and apologize to families of victims of abuse). The window for dealmakers to get major media, entertainment or tech deals through D.C. without that proverbial proctology exam may be nearing an end. This is part of The Hollywood Reporter’s ongoing midterm coverage. You can check out all of the pieces here.