A coalition of documentary makers and advocacy groups has formally urged UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to block the $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning it would concentrate too much media power in one company's hands.

The Block the Merger coalition — made up of the Archival Producers Alliance, the International Documentary Association, the UK's Documentary Film Council, and Democracy Defenders Fund — submitted its evidence to Nandy on 31 July 2026, according to Deadline.

Nandy has already said she is "minded to intervene" in the deal, which would create a combined entity known as WarnerMount. But she will not deliver a formal decision until 1 September 2026 at the earliest, because UK parliament is in summer recess.

The coalition's case rests on two main arguments. First, they say WarnerMount would become the UK's third-largest linear broadcaster — and that is before counting the rapid growth of HBO Max, the merged company's streaming platform. Second, the merger would place the CNN and CBS News archives under a single owner for the first time, which the coalition says would damage UK documentarians' ability to tell diverse stories.

Actor Alan Cumming has thrown his weight behind the effort. He posted a video supporting Block the Merger, arguing that WarnerMount would answer to a conglomerate he described as beholden to Donald Trump, autocrats, and oligarchs. Cumming also co-authored an op-ed with Benedict Cumberbatch calling the deal a "calamity."

The UK push is part of a wider fight on both sides of the Atlantic. Twelve US states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a 38-page lawsuit on 13 July 2026 seeking to stop the merger. The Writers Guild of America filed a separate complaint on 14 July, alleging the deal violates antitrust law by reducing competition in three markets for writers, including episodic television.

A US federal judge has already paused the merger twice. The initial hold, ordered on 20 July, ran through 3 August. On 23 July, the judge extended it through 17 August, as reported by Reuters and the Associated Press.

The European Union, by contrast, approved the deal in the week before July 2026. The Trump administration also approved it on 1 July, according to Democracy Now.

Despite those approvals, the coalition insists the merger is "not a done deal." Filmmakers, journalists, archive producers, unions, and consumer advocates on both sides of the Atlantic will keep working to ensure it never happens, the group said in a statement reported by Deadline.

One open question is whether Nandy herself will still be in post by September. Deadline reported on 15 July that her position is reportedly in question and she could potentially be replaced before the merger decision is due.

For now, the deal sits in limbo — paused in a US courtroom, contested by writers and state prosecutors, and awaiting a verdict from a UK minister who may or may not still hold the job.