A prominent media analyst is proposing an unorthodox solution for Comcast to win over Donald Trump’s approval in its bid to purchase rival media giant Warner Bros. Discovery: make the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk the top editor of the merged company’s news networks.
According to LightShed Partner’s Rich Greenfield's latest column, Comcast chief Brian Roberts could “win Trump’s heart” if he were to think outside the box and agree to appoint Erika Kirk to oversee CNN and NBC News once the administration approved the deal.
Yes, you read that right.
“Where we’re at: Prominent Media analyst [Rich Greenfield] argues that to get regulatory approval from the Trump admin in a WBD acquisition, Comcast should bring in TPUSA’s Erika Kirk to serve as the editor-in-chief of a combined CNN/NBC News,” Semafor media editor Max Tani tweeted in reaction to Greenfield’s column on Monday.
Greenfield’s offbeat proposal comes amid Paramount Skydance’s aggressive takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, which has seen media mogul David Ellison – whose father is close Trump ally, and the world’s second richest man, Larry Ellison – make three successive offers to purchase the company.
While Ellison’s merger bid has been repeatedly rebuffed by WBD, and Warner Bros. head David Zaslav has publicly declared that his company is now for sale in an effort to court other suitors, the Paramount chief believes he has a “Trump card” in his quest to add to his burgeoning media empire.
“Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration,” a senior Trump administration official told the New York Post last week. “The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done.”
With any merger involving WBD and a large conglomerate facing major hurdles due to antitrust regulatory concerns, Ellison has essentially told Warner’s board of directors that Paramount is the only one that will have Trump's backing through the process.
“No less significant, sources close to Ellison say, is the fact that the president is said to privately loathe Brian Roberts, the chief executive of cable giant Comcast, who in many respects is the most logical rival bidder for WBD,” the New York Post’s Charles Gasparino reported. Trump’s disdain for Roberts is well known, as the president has railed against the executive on social media and in the White House.
Greenfield, therefore, noted this week that in order for Comcast to succeed in purchasing WBD, Roberts should take a page out of Ellison’s playbook.
“As with everything Trump, the question becomes what type of deal Comcast could make to appease Trump and get to yes,” he wrote, explaining that Comcast could spin off its television assets – including the cable channels in the soon-to-be separate company Versant – and merge them with Warner Bros. Discovery.
“As part of the spin, Brian Roberts gives up his supervoting power over the NBCUniversal assets, meaning his 33⅓% vote drops to under 1%, in line with his economic stake,” Greenfield stated. “That, in and of itself, should appease Trump, as Brian Roberts would have barely any ‘control’ over NBC and MSNBC.”
Suggesting Comcast could “take it a step further,” Greenfield referenced some of the changes that Ellison has implemented at CBS News since officially taking over Paramount, which many have seen as an obvious attempt to placate the president.
“Merging NBCUniversal with Warner Bros. Discovery would combine NBC, MSNBC and CNN under one roof,” he declared. “We’ve been thinking about how NBCUniversal could completely shift the perceived bias narrative at NBC/MSNOW and CNN, similar to what Paramount is attempting with its acquisition of The Free Press and appointing Bari Weiss as Editor-in-Chief of CBS News.”
“Enter Erika Kirk, who leads the non-profit Turning Point USA and is the widow of Charlie Kirk,” Greenfield continued. “What if Comcast agreed to bring Kirk in as Editor-in-Chief of the combined news unit upon closing? Sure, at first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal, and Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently.”
Beyond handing over the editorial stewardship of three different news networks to the leader of a MAGA youth organization, Greenfield said that Comcast could also promise to replicate Paramount and appoint a “conservative ombudsman” to monitor the channels.
Days before the Trump administration approved the Paramount merger, Ellison’s Skydance Media vowed to name an ombudsman to review “complaints of bias” at CBS News. Last month, the company announced that it had hired former Trump appointee and conservative think tank leader Kenneth Weinstein to the role.
Greenfield also suggested that Comcast was already trying to grease the wheels with the administration, pointing out that the media company “made a sizable donation to Trump’s White House Ballroom renovation, which has unsurprisingly horrified NBC and MSNBC staff.”
Meanwhile, despite recent reports suggesting that Trump has all but approved Paramount’s bid for WBD even before a deal has been reached, Greenfield said that “we have to imagine Trump would love the regulatory approval process to transform the direction of NBC/MSNBC, not just CNN.”
