Why TV Mergers Aren’t the Solution to Streaming’s Flaws

That didn’t take long. Within a day of Donald Trump’s election as president, TV executives were signaling optimism that the new administration would make life easier for them by allowing the industry to consolidate. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made the most articulate case on Thursday, presenting mergers as a way of helping out poor consumers who can’t figure out how to navigate the crowded world of streaming apps.

“Consumers put on a TV set and they see 16 apps. And each of those are doing different pricing. And you’re sitting there with your phone and Googling where a show is or where a sport is.…It’s just not a good consumer experience,” Zaslav argued. Not only is he right, but this framing is more likely to appeal to antitrust authorities than arguing that mergers would help TV companies cope with shrinking cable revenues by helping them cut costs.