DGA Says WBD-Netflix Talks Raise “Significant Concerns”

The Directors Guild of America says it plans to meet with Netflix to discuss “concerns” regarding the streamer’s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

After news broke Thursday night that Netflix had won the bidding war for the legacy media company and the two would be entering exclusive talks to secure a deal, a guild spokesperson told Deadline that the development “raises significant concerns for the DGA.”

“We believe that a vibrant, competitive industry — one that fosters creativity and encourages genuine competition for talent — is essential to safeguarding the careers and creative rights of directors and their teams. We will be meeting with Netflix to outline our concerns and better understand their vision for the future of the company. While we undertake this due diligence we will not be commenting further,” the statement continued.

The DGA is the first, but likely not the last, Hollywood union to comment on the latest development in the WBD acquisition saga. The Writers Guild of America East and West said in a joint statement in October that they planned to block any potential merger of WBD and Paramount, warning that further media consolidation “would be a disaster for writers, for consumers, and for competition.”

Thursday was a tumultuous day that saw Paramount move aggressively to counter Netflix’s offer and seal a deal of its own for WBD. According to sources, Netflix offered around $28 a share for the company, mostly in cash.

WBD put itself on the block in October to open up the process after receiving three consecutive offers from Paramount. Warner has hoped to get a deal in place by mid-to-late December.