Hollywood actors could go on strike over the planned Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery tie-up, with their trade union secretly plotting a possible work stoppage in the New Year over fears the merger could drive down pay and reduce jobs, The Post has learned.
Two sources close to its top brass said the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, more widely known by the acronym SAG-AFTRA, “is building a war room to oppose this merger.”
“They believe that it’s bad for their members and it’s bad for consumers,” one insider told The Post. “A strike is not off the table if things heat up.”
A spokesperson for Netflix told The Post that the streaming giant has “been in touch with all of the guilds” that represent Hollywood workers. A WBD spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 employees in the entertainment industry.
Any potential action called by the union over the Netflix-WBD deal could bring Hollywood movie and TV productions to a grinding halt.
“Leadership of SAG is working very hard to build a campaign,” the person briefed on the matter said. “It could expand soon to members who have a vested interest in coming out against this proposal.”
A separate source close to the situation added: “There is no timeline as yet, and there is no motion to ballot so far. But they are going to ramp up their opposition to this deal in the first quarter of 2026.”
Pamela Greenwalt, a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson, told The Post: “We have not taken any position on the merger yet, other than that it requires careful review and analysis which is in progress. Any position we take will be determined based on the best interests of SAG-AFTRA members.
“Our TV/theatrical/streaming contract is bargained with an industrywide group, and issues that are individual to specific studios are generally not a part of that process,” she added.
The union warned on Dec. 5 that the transaction “raises many serious questions about its impact on the future of the entertainment industry, and especially the human creative talent whose livelihoods and careers depend on it.”
A successful acquisition would give Netflix control over WBD’s vast library of content, including the entire HBO catalog, the Warner Bros. film archive, and DC Comics properties.
A four-month walkout by actors in 2023 was the longest strike for TV and film actors in history, suspending work on a string of blockbusters, including “Gladiator II,” Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” sequel.
One SAG-AFTRA member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the popular streaming service joining forces with WBD would “create a monopoly,” and that there were already “rumblings” in LA about a strike.
The TV star claimed the planned tie-up “concentrates too much power in the hands of a single company, weakening actors’ bargaining leverage and accelerating the erosion of residual pay that many performers depend on to survive between jobs.”
Residual checks are made over the long term to actors and other theatrical workers when a TV show or movie is rerun or aired after its original release. Hollywood insiders fear the streaming giant will cut costs by slashing those payments. That view is strongly contested by senior Netflix sources.
Netflix, led by co-CEO Ted Sarandos, struck a $27.75-per-share cash-and-stock deal on Dec. 5 that valued WBD’s streaming and studio assets at $72 billion.
But WBD CEO David Zaslav has repeatedly rebuffed rival bidder Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, despite being offered a multimillion-dollar compensation package if he agreed to a deal.
The board rejected Paramount’s $78 billion hostile bid for the entire company on Wednesday, according to a regulatory filing, saying it failed to provide adequate financing assurances.
In a letter to shareholders, WBD’s top brass wrote that Paramount had “consistently misled” WBD shareholders that its $30-per-share cash offer was fully guaranteed, or “backstopped,” by the Ellison family, led by billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
The tie-up would give the new company, which would include HBO Max, 35% of all streaming hours, according to John M. Yun, a professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University.
That would put this deal on the radar of US officials, with President Trump already indicating that the big market share “could be a problem.”
Sources close to the situation have also indicated that the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, will closely scrutinize the takeover.
Brussels bureaucrats have not shied away from slapping multimillion-dollar fines on US tech giants and even blocking some M&A transactions outright.
“What some might not realize is that European regulators have significant power when it comes to mergers,” said Laura Houlgatte Abbott, CEO of the International Union of Cinemas, a trade body that represents 43,500 movie theaters across 39 countries.
“We will ensure our concerns are heard by the EU’s antitrust authorities,” she told The Post.
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