Critics say California got too little in deal to let Paramount buy Warner Bros

"Today, billionaires have yet again bribed, censored, and bullied their way to the top," said Alvaro Bedoya, a former member of the US Federal Trade Commission and adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project. "Layoffs will follow. People from L.A. to Atlanta will lose their jobs, small businesses will lose their contracts, your cable bill and movie ticket will be even more expensive."

Disappointment with the settlement rippled beyond Hollywood, illustrating a growing split in the Democratic Party between moderates, who are more business-friendly, and progressives, who seek a harder line to deliver affordability for US consumers.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, criticized the deal, and said Paramount is a "clear candidate for antitrust scrutiny in a future pro-competition administration."

"This settlement greenlights an anti-monopoly disaster that will result in higher prices and fewer jobs, and enables a handful of billionaires to call the shots in the American media," she said.