Benedict Cumberbatch urges UK to block Paramount merger
Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong have urged the UK government to block Paramount’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, warning the $110bn deal threatens British workers, culture and news plurality. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said she is “minded to intervene.”
In a Guardian op-ed, the three actors say the Paramount–Warner Bros merger “threatens to inflict immense harm on the British public.” Nandy has written to Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery and told Parliament she is minded to step in. For more celebrity breaking news, see BlasterPost’s hub.
Key Takeaways
- Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong want the UK to block the Paramount–Warner Bros merger.
- Lisa Nandy says she is “minded to intervene” on public-interest grounds under the Enterprise Act.
- The actors warn roughly $6bn in “synergies” could mean redundancies and fewer films.
- Twelve US states sued to stop the deal; Paramount agreed to delay until trial. The EU has conditionally backed it.
Why are Benedict Cumberbatch and co opposing the merger?
Writing as UK and Hollywood actors who work with British crews, Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong say consolidation already narrows what reaches screens. They cite independent film acquisitions at Sundance falling by half between 2019 and 2025, and award-winning documentaries struggling to find buyers.
They argue Paramount’s bid is one of the largest leveraged buyouts attempted, loading the combined company with an estimated $84bn in debt. Executives have promised investors about $6bn in “synergies”—which the trio translate as redundancies, cancelled productions, fewer commissions and fewer creative risks.
They point to recent history: after Discovery merged with WarnerMedia in 2022, finished films were shelved and thousands of jobs cut; after Skydance merged with Paramount, about 2,000 people were laid off. UK crews and audiences, they say, would pay next.
What would the Paramount-Warner Bros deal control in Britain?
The actors stress UK film and TV support more than 180,000 jobs, generated £6.8bn in production spend last year and add roughly £12bn a year in value. Beyond jobs—which they say sit mainly with the Competition and Markets Authority—Nandy’s brief is whether the merger serves the public interest. They say it does not.
One company would hold Channel 5, a public service broadcaster; CNN International, rated highly by UK viewers in Ofcom research; and the CNN and CBS news archives, with more than 4.25 million videos, images and media. “If one commercially interested owner controls access to both, they control the raw material of our historical memory,” the op-ed states.
They also note Paramount’s chief executive reportedly told Donald Trump he would make “sweeping changes” to CNN if the deal went through—grounds, they argue, for a British secretary of state to ask hard questions.
What happens next for the UK intervention?
Nandy has not taken a final decision. The actors urge a full public-interest intervention, with Ofcom assessing plurality. Parliament is in recess until 1 September, Variety reports, even as the US antitrust fight and EU conditions continue on parallel tracks.
“Nandy has opened the door to intervention. She must walk through it,” Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong write, calling on Britain to block the merger to protect UK film, television, culture and what the public gets to watch and know.