New Delhi, July 14 -- SACRAMENTO - California Attorney General Rob Bonta walked into Monday's press conference with twelve state governments behind him and reached for the language of market populism. The $110 billion deal combining Paramount Skydance with Warner Bros. Discovery would create, he said, "rigged markets, not free and fair markets." The lawsuit his office filed in federal court the same afternoon was designed to prevent that from happening.

The coalition that joined California's complaint included Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, representing a broad cross-section of states with significant entertainment, cable, and theater industries....