David Folkenflik

speaker

217 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2026 last heard 2d ago

David Folkenflik’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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The NPR Politics Podcast · What is Trump's interest in Paramount's merger with WB? · 6 Aug 2026 podcast

It has waved it through all but entirely without a single known concession so far. matched

Ellison argues that the legal challenges are about politics and not about the stated antitrust concerns that are the core of the lawsuit there. matched

You know, the Democrats would claim both and are claiming. matched

Sure. matched

It is a question about how, you know, from a legal standpoint, it's a question of how you're defining the marketplace. matched

Are we really talking about Hollywood or are we talking about all the different opportunities to divert people's attention through entertainment, through streaming platforms and other means? matched

In reality, you know, Ellison both is accusing his critics of politics and not acknowledging the way in which politics has informed people. matched

his own approach to trying to get this $111 billion deal across the line. matched

And it's going to be a long and extended court challenge if they can't find a way to resolve the concerns of the Democratic attorneys general. matched

And the Ellison's pushing for this to be decided real quickly. matched

Because it costs them money every day past September 30th that it is delayed. matched

They have to pay Warner Brothers Discovery shareholders about $7 million a day. matched

The judge has delayed it to March of next year, which is going to be about a $1.5 billion hit for Paramount just on that delay alone. matched

So you're absolutely right. matched

In this country, matched

There have to be antitrust reviews on things like this. matched

And it was taken up by two major government agencies. matched

One is the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, which gave it a green light. matched

The Wall Street Journal reported, in fact, that that decision was made by senior Justice Department officials at the political levels, not the nonpolitical professionals within the antitrust division themselves. matched

The recently stepped down head of the antitrust division has denied that. matched

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