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Netflix’s Game of Antitrust Chicken

If the streaming giant wins Warner Bros., the feds will almost certainly present their next hurdle. And the Trump Justice Department might ask some questions that Netflix would like to avoid.

Ted Sarandos
Although co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos projected confidence after his meeting with Trump last month, I’ll go out on a limb and suggest we may see a landmark U.S. v. Netflix this year. Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME
Eriq Gardner
January 6, 2026

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Everyone in the entertainment business remembers how the Trump administration stood aside when Bob Iger and Rupert Murdoch cut their giant deal, in 2017, delivering most of 21st Century Fox to Disney for $71 billion. But here’s a detail from that regulatory review that hasn’t been reported: Disney, in an effort to smooth approval, told regulators it would divest Hulu, the streamer it then co-owned with rival studios. The Department of Justice rejected the offer and insisted that Disney keep Hulu. Why? Trump 1.0 viewed a muscular Hulu as a necessary counterweight to Netflix’s growing dominance in streaming. (Disney, of course, then bought out Comcast’s stake.)