WGA West Antitrust Report: The New Gatekeepers: How Disney, Netflix, and Amazon Will Take Over Media
Los Angeles, CA – Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) released a new report detailing how deregulation and the growing dominance of streaming have laid the groundwork for a media landscape where three companies—Disney, Amazon, and Netflix—are poised to be the new gatekeepers of media.
“Writers forced to strike in this climate should come as a surprise to no one,” says WGAW Research & Public Policy Director Laura Blum-Smith. “We’re transitioning from a period of rapid investment and competition that brought about new and diverse content to a monopolistic model that will concentrate control over entertainment programming in the hands of just a few large and powerful corporations. For writers, that means fewer buyers for their work, employers who exert more leverage in individual deal negotiations, and depressed pay and working conditions.”
Disney, Amazon, and Netflix have increased market share and leverage through acquisitions, wielding their control of related markets, and underpricing their services to achieve dominance. Now these three corporations are poised to dominate as media gatekeepers, satisfying Wall Street’s continuing demand for consolidation with an unending cycle of mergers and acquisitions. It is crucial that antitrust agencies and lawmakers take action to protect the future prospect of a more diverse and less concentrated media landscape.
Read the full report here.
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America West, visit www.wga.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America, East, visit www.wgaeast.org.