[roughly]

It’s not a dispute about antitrust policy either, or at least not directly. Paramount has been aggressively reshaping its content to please the current administration for purposes of buying political favor. There’s an antitrust component to that, in that the more properties they acquire, the fewer voices aren’t effectively controlled by the regime, but the opposition to Paramount’s purchasing spree is political and should be properly seen as such.

[ls612]

Well political differences is not a valid reason to block a merger in the US (see TWC and AT&T’s merger in his first term for an example of that strategy failing).

[roughly]

That was part of Paramount’s offer/threat to WBD, though - “the administration likes us.” I agree with you that it’s unlikely to block the merger, but I think saying this is a win for the consumer is ignoring a whole lot of context.