Caroline Hyde

But Netflix has already tried to inoculate against that, saying that, look, 75 percent of our users also subscribe to HBO Max.

So there may not be that sort of conflict when it comes to competition, as some are raising, they say.

Yeah, and maybe they can bundle it and make it cheaper as part of the argument for the consumer.

We could go so many directions, Mike, and we could look to California and the impact on the industry and on jobs, and I'm sure that's something Gavin Newsom's looking at.

But where you sit, many are wondering about the counter-argument likely to come from Paramount Skydance and, of course, the close ties with David Ellison, his father Larry Ellison, and the administration.

What are you reading there?

Look, Karen, I'm glad you asked about this because the politics these days are inescapable.

And especially when it comes to this transaction, because in choosing Netflix as its partner here in this deal, Warner Brothers is jilting David Ellison.

And that really does prompt perhaps a whole new level of scrutiny and a perhaps full court press reaction.

with the Trump administration, with whom he is close, and also with perhaps the president himself.

So there will be a lot of jockeying behind the scenes, perhaps even more so than usual when it comes to a deal of this nature.

And one of the things we'll have to be watching is to what degree

The Netflix side is also trying to curry favor, in effect, with the Trump side.

Over the years, Netflix founder Reed Hastings has donated heavily to Democratic causes.

He contributed $7 million to Kamala Harris, $20 million to Democrats over the years.

But we also want to see how Ted Sarandos, the CEO of Netflix, is trying to do his part.

We know that in December...

He did have dinner with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

The men sat for several hours and talked in March.

Sarandos described the conversation as a good conversation, but we will need to see where that leads.