States rely on 1963 bank ruling to challenge Paramount-Warner merger

Paramount's proposed $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, approved by the Justice Department and reviewed in 68 countries, is now being contested by twelve state attorneys general. Their lawsuit leans on United States v. Philadelphia National Bank, a 1963 Supreme Court case that introduced a 30 percent market-share rule for assessing antitrust risk in a localized banking market.

The states have crafted a market definition that counts only theatrical releases and basic cable bundles, deliberately leaving out streaming services, YouTube, and sports rights, to meet the 30 percent trigger. Critics say this approach mirrors the static conditions of 1960s banking and fails to reflect how viewers consume content today. Legal experts contend that applying a decades-old numeric threshold without real-world harm analysis is a fundamental flaw.

They argue the merger could actually enhance competition against tech giants by creating a larger studio capable of investing in new content. The dispute highlights a broader tension between federal antitrust reviews and state-level challenges using outdated standards.