There is issue that customers may be adversely impacted if Netflix gets Warner Bros. Discovery’s( WBD’s)streaming and motion picture studios services. Among the greatest worries is that the merger would result in greater rates due to Netflix having less competitors. Throughout a Senate hearing today, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos recommended that the merger would have an opposite result.

Sarandos was speaking at a hearing held by the senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, “Examining the Competitive Impact of the Proposed Netflix-Warner Brothers Transaction.”

Sarandos intended to persuade the subcommittee that Netflix would not end up being a monopoly in streaming or in motion picture and television production if regulators permitted its acquisition to close. Netflix is the biggest membership video-on-demand (SVOD) service provider by customers (301.63 million since January 2025), and WBD is the 3rd (128 million streaming customers, consisting of users of HBO Max and, to a smaller sized degree, Discovery+).

Speaking at today’s hearing, Sarandos stated:

Netflix and Warner Bros. both have streaming services, however they are really complementary. 80 percent of HBO Max customers likewise subscribe to Netflix. We will offer customers more material for less.

Throughout the hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked Sarandos how Netflix can guarantee that streaming stays “budget-friendly” after a merger, specifically after Netflix released a rate walking in January 2025 in spite of it including more customers.

Sarandos stated the streaming market is still competitive. The executive declared that previous Netflix rate walkings have actually featured “a lot more worth” for customers.

“We are a one-click cancel, so if the customer states, ‘That’s excessive for what I’m getting,’ they can cancel with one click,” Sarandos stated.

When pushed even more on rates, the executive argued that the merger does not present “any concentration threat” which Netflix is dealing with the United States Department of Justice on prospective guardrails versus more rate walkings.