My first thought upon reading the complaint filed Monday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his coalition of 11 other states challenging the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger was how thoroughly old-school it all felt. This is a case with obvious political overtones, yet there is no talk of Ellison family lobbying or President Trump influencing the Justice Department’s review. Nor is the case built around the consolidation of CNN and CBS, despite persistent chatter that what truly animates these Democratic A.G.s is the prospect of major news operations ending up in the wrong hands. Instead, the complaint turned out to be a fairly conventional antitrust challenge focused on the competitive harms—fewer films, canceled projects, higher cable bills—that may arise when one company controls an outsize share of Hollywood’s blockbuster pipeline.