Netflix’s Ted Sarandos blames the WBD merger saga for “flooding the realm with chaos.”

netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos I set a goal for Tuesday topcompetitive bidding warner bros discoveryIt accused the David Ellison-led company of “creating confusion for shareholders”.

The executive sat down for a CNBC interview later in the year. an eventful day In a months-long battle for control of Warner. (Watch the interview above.)

Netflix last December Signed the proposed transaction Acquires WBD’s studio and streaming division for $82.7 billion. Paramount has made multiple hostile bids for all of WBD, appealing directly to shareholders who will vote on the Netflix proposal next month. On Tuesday, the companies announced: The WBD board will negotiate for seven days. with Paramount He said he could raise the bid..

Sarandos said Netflix agreed to the short period of reopened negotiations because Paramount was “making a fuss and confusing shareholders, throwing out all these hypothetical proposals, talking directly to shareholders, bypassing the Warner Bros. Discovery committee and not really understanding the deal.”

short window, Paramount called it “peculiar.” Sarandos said it presents an opportunity “to provide complete clarity and certainty about what the value of these transactions is.” With both sides insisting their scenario is the better one, the new talks will give Paramount “seven days to put its money where its mouth is.”

With months of regulatory scrutiny remaining, the merger war is far from over. And Sarandos acknowledged that the deal is not being accepted by many in Hollywood, given the number of cuts and consolidations in the industry in recent years.

“I think before, people would have said they preferred no deal. … That’s what the unions want. A lot of people want no deal,” Sarandos said. “However, the board of directors of Warner Bros. Discovery has determined that it is in their long-term best interest to sell these assets. So a transaction will be made. That’s why we need to look at these two transactions and compare and contrast them. This will keep the industry going and continue to reinvest with a healthy balance sheet.”

Media mergers “don’t have a great history,” the executive acknowledged. “If you look at the Disney-Fox merger, they went from making 33 movies a year to making about 20. That’s a bad outcome. That’s what Paramount is proposing in their bid. What we’re doing is keeping them alive. We’re investing in them and growing that business at the rate they’re making movies today, plus the rate they’re releasing them for Netflix today.”

On the regulatory side, Netflix argued that it should be evaluated in the context of all companies seeking consumer attention, not just the subscription streamers, studios and networks that work with the streaming giant for film and TV projects.

“We compete on the battlefield of television.” Sarandos said. “People sit down, pick up the remote control, open the home screen, and there are tons of apps, and they choose what to watch. And YouTube is there with everyone else, and people choose it. And like Netflix and everyone else, they pay for it, sometimes with subscriptions, sometimes with advertising. It’s part of a much bigger and more competitive environment than it was before. So the narrow definition you’re talking about is not realistic.”

YouTube accounts for about 13% of all TV viewing in the U.S., Sarandos said, alluding to recent Nielsen market share statistics. Netflix is ​​currently at 9%, and even with the addition of HBO, the company estimates it will be at 10%.