A proposed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery threatens severe harm to British workers, culture and news plurality, according to actors Alan Cumming, Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong. They urge Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to intervene.
The $110bn takeover would load the combined company with an estimated $84bn in debt. Executives have promised investors around $6bn in "synergies", which the actors argue means redundancies, cancelled productions and fewer risks. The merger is also being challenged by 12 US states led by California, who sued to block it over concerns it would raise prices and reduce film output. Paramount has agreed to delay the merger until trial.
UK public interest at stake
Nandy has indicated she is "minded to intervene" in the merger, sending letters to both companies and a statement to parliament. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport can assess whether the deal is in the public interest under the Enterprise Act. The actors say this could be "one of the most important decisions any culture secretary has taken for UK film, television and media in a generation."
The UK film and television industry supports more than 180,000 jobs, generated £6.8bn in production spend last year and adds roughly £12bn a year to the economy. The actors warn that consolidation narrows the range of stories that reach audiences, citing a fall in independent film acquisitions at Sundance from 2019 to 2025 and award-winning documentaries struggling for distribution.
Threat to news plurality
The merged company would own Channel 5, CNN International, and the CNN and CBS news archives—over 4.25m videos and images spanning half a century. The actors argue that one owner controlling such a breadth of news sources endangers the public. They note that Paramount's chief executive reportedly told Donald Trump he would make "sweeping changes" to CNN if the deal went through.
Nandy has cited the need for sufficient plurality in news media and content for streaming services, children's television and content homogenisation. The actors call for a full public interest intervention with an Ofcom assessment.
Actors' call to action
"Actors are often told to stay out of legal arguments. We understand the instinct. But we have spent our lives on enough UK sets, worked alongside enough UK crews and watched enough brilliant work from the UK struggle to find a buyer to know that this is not someone else's argument. It is ours," they write. "Nandy has opened the door to intervention. She must walk through it."
