Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery finally said publicly what everyone has been talking about for weeks: The media company is up for sale.

Although the news was hardly a surprise — Warner has been unofficially in play for some two months — the prospect of another blockbuster merger has rattled an entertainment industry that has seen a slow but steady drumbeat of consolidation in recent years.

Hollywood insiders still lament the effect of Walt Disney Co.’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets and what that has meant for theatrical output and the shrinking buyer’s market. Warner itself is the result of multiple sales and mergers.

More recently, of course, was the takeover of Paramount by tech scion David Ellison’s Skydance Media, a deal which only just closed in August.

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