Overview
A coalition of film archivists and producers has appealed to the British culture minister to investigate the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery, raising alarm about potential limits on access to historical broadcast news footage that documentary makers rely on.
Who is raising the alarm
The appeal came in a letter from the Archival Producers Alliance, a group that represents more than 650 specialists in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries who locate and license archival material for films and television. The letter was sent to the UK government this week.
The archives at issue
According to the producers, the proposed deal would bring two of the world’s largest broadcast news collections under the same corporate roof. Their letter notes that the CNN archive holds in excess of 4 million assets spanning roughly 45 years of coverage of global conflicts, elections and political events. The CBS News archive, which would become part of the same corporate family under the proposal, contains 85 years of broadcast news footage as well as unaired material such as outtakes and B-roll.
A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment on the producers’ appeal.
Concerns about control and access
The Archival Producers Alliance warned that access to these holdings is currently at the discretion of each archive owner, and that consolidation under a single corporate entity could create new barriers for filmmakers. The producers wrote that if the combined owner were to refuse licenses because it disapproved of a film’s framing, politics or depiction of company talent, UK documentary makers could face serious difficulty obtaining essential footage. In many cases, the group added, there may be no substitute material available.
In its own correspondence to the companies on June 30, the British government said the proposed consolidation would place the world’s two largest privately held broadcast news collections under unified ownership for the first time.
Request for regulatory action
The producers asked Culture Minister Lisa Nandy to open a full investigation and, if necessary, to impose conditions designed to protect continued public access to and preservation of the archives. Nandy has already expressed concerns that the transaction could reduce media plurality, and she must decide whether to issue a formal intervention notice.
That decision sits alongside a separate antitrust initial review being conducted under the Enterprise Act 2002. The review was underway at the time the producers sent their letter and is scheduled to conclude by August 7.
Illustrative example cited
As part of their case, the producers cited an instance in which a filmmaker was refused access to wartime footage that he had previously licensed. The refusal, they said, occurred while the United States was engaged in conflict and the material depicted soldiers "in a bad light." The group did not disclose the filmmaker’s name.
"If a news organization refuses to release footage, there is often no other way to get it," the Archival Producers Alliance wrote. "CNN and CBS offer singular perspectives of the past, present and future news; consolidating them will allow one owner to control access to this irreplaceable footage."
Wider regulatory concerns
Beyond archival access, Minister Nandy has raised broader questions about the merger’s potential effects on international news, children’s television and streaming services.
For documentary producers and archivists, the proposed merger raises practical and legal questions about who controls access to historic footage. Regulators will weigh those concerns alongside competition issues as the review process unfolds.