Benedict Cumberbatch Joins Campaign Urging UK Government to Block Paramount-Warner Bros Merger

Three prominent British actors have published an open letter calling on the UK government to block a proposed $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, citing threats to British media plurality, employment, and public service broadcasting. The intervention comes as UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has signaled she is "minded to intervene" in the deal, and as twelve US states, led by California, have launched a federal antitrust lawsuit to halt the acquisition.

The Campaign and Key Concerns

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming, and Benedict Wong published their position in the Guardian, addressing Culture Secretary Nandy directly. The actors contend that consolidating control of major news outlets—specifically highlighting Paramount's ownership of Channel 5 and CBS in the United States, alongside Warner Bros Discovery's CNN and CNN International—would concentrate historical media archives under a single commercial entity.

The trio argued that such consolidated ownership poses a fundamental threat to media independence: "If one commercially interested owner controls access to both [the CNN and CBS news archives], they control the raw material of our historical memory." They warned that the merger would likely result in redundancies across British crews, cancelled productions, fewer films commissioned, and reduced risk-taking in creative decisions.

Government and International Response

Nandy's signaled willingness to intervene places the UK on a separate regulatory path from the European Commission, which approved the merger last week with conditions attached. Meanwhile, twelve US states have moved aggressively to block the deal in federal court, with Paramount agreeing on Friday to delay the merger pending the outcome of antitrust litigation.

The actors emphasized that Nandy's decision could prove "one of the most important decisions any culture secretary has taken for UK film, television and media in a generation." They called on her to "walk through the door to intervention" for the protection of both the industry workforce and the viewing public. Parliament is scheduled to return from recess on September 1, at which point Nandy's department will face mounting pressure to announce its formal position.