• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Mr. Sarandos Goes to Washington

Generally speaking, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate appear to hate Netflix’s deal for WBD almost as much as they hate each other. Could Ted Sarandos’s recent hearing in the upper chamber mark the beginning of the Ellisons’ comeback victory?

Ted Sarandos
Sarandos defended the proposed deal by claiming that Netflix controlled only 9 percent of the streaming market—assuming the likes of YouTube and TikTok are included—a share that would rise to 10 percent if it were to acquire HBO Max. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
February 8, 2026

Join Puck to listen to this article

Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav are lucky that the Senate Judiciary Committee doesn’t have the authority to block significant mergers—if it did, Tuesday’s two-hour hearing “examining the competitive impact” of their deal surely would have spelled doom for the proposed $83 billion merger (cash and assumed debt) of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Studios and Streaming business unit. It’s been years since I’ve seen so much bipartisan unity: Just about everyone seems to have a bone to pick with this deal.