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The unlawful merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less film and TV content—harming the entertainment industry and audiences alike.
We’re in court to stop it.
California’s film and TV industry is deeply ingrained in our state's history and identity, and is a powerful sector of our state economy, a critical employer, and an important vehicle for people to speak truth to power. As important as it is here at home, it also inspires, informs, and touches the lives of Americans daily. With this lawsuit, we are enforcing our antitrust laws and fighting for a free and fair market, because competition is the lifeblood of a healthy economy. We are committed to ensuring that all Americans can participate in and benefit from a vibrant economy, not just sons of billionaires, CEOs, and wealthy shareholders. Because America has no kings in government or our economy.
To be continued,
Rob
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Seeking to Block Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger
 This week, I led a coalition of states in seeking to block the proposed merger of Warner Bros. and Paramount. The proposed merger, the largest in Hollywood history, would combine two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the five major basic cable channel owners, extinguishing competition between Paramount and Warner Bros., and inflicting substantial harm on movie theaters, basic cable distributors and, ultimately, audiences nationwide. In the U.S. alone, if allowed to merge, the combined titan would control nearly one-third of theatrical motion pictures and nearly one-third of basic cable programming. Our lawsuit alleges that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal.
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Enforcing California's Housing Laws
 California’s housing crisis demands action, not excuses. Jurisdictions that remain out of compliance with California's Housing Element Law are standing in the way of the homes Californians need. We are well past the halfway point of the current housing planning cycle, and timely compliance is not optional. As I’ve said many times, no local government has to solve this challenge alone, but every local government has to do its fair share. This week, we showed how serious we are about ensuring that every city and county in California adopts a housing element, with enforcement actions against Calexico, Costa Mesa, Half Moon Bay, Ridgecrest, and Turlock. Restoring the California dream will take an all-hands-on-deck effort.
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Protecting Against Cuts to Federal Funding
 Since taking office, the Trump Administration has used a single subclause buried deep in federal regulations as its sole justification to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding to California. It has done so in clear violation of the law and with callous disregard for the real impact these dollars have on peoples’ daily lives. This funding directly supports public safety, addresses food insecurity, and protects public health. This week, we secured a court decision closing off this much-misused avenue for withholding federal funding to California. Time and again, the Trump Administration has used federal funding as a political bludgeon, and we’ll continue to partner with states across the country to defend against President Trump’s next round of attacks.
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Protecting Onshore Wind Energy Projects
 It is no secret that the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to undermine wind energy projects. Instead of expanding energy supply and helping drive electricity prices down, the Administration is blocking new clean, affordable energy generation to the power grid. This week, we took the Trump Administration to court for illegally halting onshore wind energy development nationwide. We're asking the court to order the Department of Defense to resume the review process of onshore wind energy projects that will strengthen our energy security and keep lower-cost power within reach at a time when Americans need it most.
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Making Your Life Affordable
 From groceries to gas, costs seem to be rising and rising ... and rising. California DOJ has your back and is committed to protecting California families grappling with the high cost of living. In this segment, find some of the ways California DOJ is protecting Californians — and their wallets.
What We Did: Last month, we announced our Affordability Response Team to go after unlawful practices raising the cost of living for Californians! The creation of the Affordability Response Team will amplify our focus on affordability, create a pipeline for continued enforcement, and send the strong message that California has zero tolerance for unlawful policies or behavior that drive up prices for Californians. Our Team will deploy California DOJ's tools to tackle costs associated with eight issue areas.
Issue Area #5: All Work and Harder to Play: The High Cost of Enjoying Life: From planning a vacation to seeing your favorite band in concert, it’s getting too expensive to have fun. Dubbed “funflation,” the high cost of fun may make it harder for many Californians to share experiences with family, make new friends, or unwind from a stress filled work week.
California DOJ has responded by going head-to-head with bad actors and policies that exacerbate this unaffordability: we’ve sponsored a state law that bans most hidden fees in California, secured a verdict in our Live Nation/Ticketmaster trial that found the ticketing giants overcharged consumers for tickets, secured a $700 million settlement for consumers harmed by Google’s anticompetitive practices in the Google Play Store, obtained full refunds for hundreds of Californians who were harmed by the illegal practices of a travel agent, and we’ve protected museums and libraries — places Americans can enjoy at little or no cost — from attack by the Trump Administration. This week, we also sued to block the Warner Bros./Paramount merger which would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television.
The Affordability Response Team will continue our office's existing work and ramp up our ongoing focus on the cost-of-living crisis. Check out oag.ca.gov/affordability to learn more about our work in this space. Tune in next week and we’ll dive into the sixth issue area, Financial Protection: Protecting Your Hard-Earned Money.
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Keeping You Safe
 Price gouging during a state of emergency is illegal, and our office remains committed to protecting consumers during trying times. Recently, my office secured a sentence against real estate agent, Mike Kobeissi, for false advertising following an attempt to price-gouge a couple who lost their home in the Los Angeles Eaton Fire. His sentence includes 12 months of probation, 100 hours of community service, a mandatory ethics course through the National Association of Realtors, a $20,000 contribution to a disaster relief fund, and a letter of apology to the victims. May this announcement serve as a warning to those who would seek to further victimize those who have lost everything. We will continue to hold accountable those who try to make a quick buck off someone else’s pain.
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CARE Corner
 The Office of Community Awareness, Response and Engagement (CARE) invites you to join us for our next CARE Community Briefing on the 2025 Hate Crime in California Report. CARE Community Briefings are public virtual webinars to share information about California DOJ reports, publications, and resources.
This briefing will highlight the latest hate crime data trends and findings in California from 2025 as reported by local law enforcement agencies to the California DOJ, including the most common types of hate crimes broken down by county and protected class.
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Post of the Week
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FLASH BRIEFING
Attorney General Bonta Opposes Trump Administration’s Sweeping Proposal to Allow for Widespread Political Weaponization of Federal Grant Funding
Attorney General Bonta Sounds the Alarm on Tactics from Predatory Lenders to Evade State Consumer Protection Laws, Alerts Federal Financial Regulators
Attorney General Bonta Announces $29.6 Million Settlement with Glenmark over Conspiracy to Inflate Pharmaceutical Prices and Limit Competition
Cruel Attack on California’s Immigrant Communities: Attorney General Bonta Slams Trump Administration’s New Public Charge Rule
Attorney General Bonta Shares Updated Resources on Statewide and Local Rent Increase Limits
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Video of the Week
 I’m here at the Hollywood sign where we announced a lawsuit opposing the proposed $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros.
We’ll continue to take action to protect consumers, competition, and the future of the industry we all love.
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Make a Difference at California DOJ
 Apply today to help California DOJ protect the health, well-being, and public safety of Californians. Check out our featured jobs below and visit oag.ca.gov/careers for a full listing of available positions:
Deputy Attorney General IV, Special Prosecutions Section
Deputy Attorney General IV, Opinion Unit Attorney
Deputy Attorney General IV, DMFEA Civil Section
Deputy Attorney General IV, Health Education & Welfare
Deputy Attorney General IV, Worker Rights and Fair Labor
Investigative Auditor IV, Consumer Protection
Senior Data Analyst, Research Services Branch
Legal Secretary, Legal Support Operations
Regulatory Compliance Unit Manager, Bureau of Firearms
Information Technology Supervisor II, Application Development Bureau
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