By Jody Godoy

NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Netflix says it must acquire Warner Bros Discovery to compete with YouTube, but antitrust experts doubt regulators will buy that argument.

The streaming giant’s $72 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and HBO Max will face scrutiny from U.S. and global regulators, given its scale and the combined 428 million ‍subscribers.

Netflix insists the deal is needed to challenge Alphabet’s YouTube, which media analysis firm Nielsen ranks as America’s most-watched TV distributor. But attorneys say the Justice Department is unlikely to see Netflix and YouTube as interchangeable rivals, given their different content, audiences and business models.

“Netflix is trying to say it competes with YouTube because people only watch a certain amount

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