Ed Ludlow

We don't know how they would handle WBD TV's massive external TV licensing business.

We do know that Paramount and WB, there's more of, again, overlap and redundancies.

So we can safely say that that would probably be more predictable as to what the future would look like.

And it would certainly position Paramount to make that entrance into the top three contenders of media companies.

Certainly, David Ellis has been talking about getting in the position to produce more, more content, in particular for the consumer.

Brandon, just listen to what he told our own Lucas Shaw a little bit earlier in October at our Screen Time event.

We have a good relationship with the administration.

And look, I think if you look to that, I do believe...

Other things that have been rumored about, right, are very large-scale players that could potentially create monopolies, obviously, in the ecosystem.

And again, I think when you look at the lens of consolidation, for us, I'll keep going back to it, it's always how do you create long-term value creation?

How do you put yourself in the position to produce more content, not less?

And how do you ultimately build something that is better for the consumer?

Brandon, what serves the consumer best?

What serves the consumer best overall is usually competition.

So I think there is a large sect of industry analysts and professionals that would probably prefer Warner Brothers Discovery to remain as an independent company because it means more competition.

It means more buyers on the market.

It probably means less layoffs of the labor force.

Having said that, that's unfortunately not the reality that we live in.

So somebody is going to get Warner Brothers.

So it is really deciding which ultimate partner is probably best for the industry.