Hollywood Studios: Comcast, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros , Content Audits

Hollywood is the single cleanest case for broad BRI exclusion after alcohol and tobacco. The four major publicly traded studio parents (Comcast, Paramount Global, Sony, and Warner Bros Discovery) all show up on BRI exclusion lists across the industry. The reason is a content audit problem that is essentially impossible for a major studio to pass.

Here is how the content audit works, what the current state of each studio looks like, and how BRI funds are positioning in 2026.

What a content audit actually is

BRI funds that evaluate content companies do something called a content audit. The audit reviews recent major releases (movies, TV shows, streaming originals) and counts instances of material that conflicts with the fund's screen categories. Sexual content, profanity, violence aimed at children, LGBTQ content targeted at young audiences, anti-Christian characterizations, glorification of drug use, gambling promotion, and so on.

No content audit is perfectly objective. Two analysts can review the same film and count different things. But the methodologies are usually transparent enough that you can see how a fund got to its conclusion. And the result for the major studios is almost always the same: they fail.

Comcast Corporation (CMCSA)

Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which includes Universal Pictures, the NBC broadcast network, Universal Studios theme parks, Peacock streaming, and various cable networks (MSNBC, USA, Syfy, E!, Bravo). Comcast is a telecom plus content giant with multiple lines of exposure.

The content side includes NBC, which has produced decades of network TV with adult themes, and Universal Pictures, which has produced everything from Fast and Furious to more adult-oriented films. Peacock carries a mix of content that includes mature material.

Separately, Comcast has the cable internet and TV distribution business, which has historically carried adult pay-per-view channels (less of an issue in 2026 but part of the legacy).

Almost every BRI fund excludes CMCSA. Inspire, Timothy Plan, Eventide, Praxis, and most moderate funds agree. GuideStone sometimes has or has not held Comcast depending on the specific year and fund.

The exclusion is not controversial. Comcast's content library is too large and too varied to pass any meaningful BRI screen.

Paramount Global (PARA)

Paramount Global is the result of the 2019 merger between Viacom and CBS, and it now includes Paramount Pictures, CBS (broadcast network), Paramount+ streaming, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Showtime. The company has been through significant financial turmoil in recent years, including a complicated deal with Skydance that closed in the mid-2020s.

Paramount's content exposure is wide. Paramount+ has produced content that BRI funds flag. Showtime has historically been one of the most adult content-heavy premium networks. MTV and Comedy Central have a long history of adult-oriented programming. Nickelodeon (aimed at children) has had its own controversies over content decisions in recent years.

BRI fund treatment of Paramount has been consistently negative. PARA is excluded from most BRI funds.

The financial performance has also been rough. PARA stock has dropped dramatically from its post-merger highs, and the Skydance deal caused additional turmoil. Excluding PARA has been a financial win for BRI funds on top of a values win.

Sony Group Corporation (SONY)

Sony is the most complicated of the Hollywood parents because it is a Japanese conglomerate with entertainment as one of several businesses. Sony owns Sony Pictures (film), Sony Music, Sony PlayStation (gaming), Sony consumer electronics (cameras, audio), and various financial services and insurance businesses in Japan.

The content exposure is significant (Sony Pictures has produced plenty of films BRI funds would flag), but the core business is much broader than content. About 30 percent of Sony's revenue comes from entertainment, meaning 70 percent comes from other things.

BRI fund treatment depends on the threshold test. Funds that apply a strict core business test may hold Sony because entertainment is a minority of revenue. Funds that apply a content distribution test (any meaningful content exposure is disqualifying) exclude Sony.

In practice, most BRI funds have excluded Sony at some point, though Eventide and some moderate funds have held it in periods when they were weighting the diversification more heavily.

The PlayStation gaming exposure is its own question. Video games have adult content in some titles, and the PlayStation Store distributes them. Some BRI funds flag this. Others treat it as too diffuse to be a main factor.

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD)

The 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery created Warner Bros Discovery, a content giant with HBO, CNN, Warner Bros Pictures, DC Comics, Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Food Network, and Max streaming (formerly HBO Max).

WBD has one of the largest content libraries in the industry. HBO has produced decades of mature content, some of it among the most explicit on any major platform. Warner Bros Pictures has produced the DC superhero films, a massive Harry Potter library, and countless other releases. CNN has editorial positions that some BRI funds track.

The company has had financial difficulties since the merger. Debt levels are high. The streaming business has been profitable but competitive. Stock performance has been weak.

BRI funds almost uniformly exclude WBD. The content exposure is too broad and too deep to pass any content audit.

What they all have in common

All four major studio parents share a few characteristics that make BRI exclusion almost inevitable:

Legacy content libraries. These companies have been producing content for decades, and the libraries include enormous amounts of material that BRI funds flag. Even if a company announced tomorrow that it would only produce family-friendly content going forward, the existing library would still be in circulation and earning revenue.

Broadcast network obligations. NBC, CBS, and the various cable networks operated by these companies have ongoing programming schedules that include content BRI funds flag. You cannot own a broadcast network without taking on its programming mix.

Streaming ambitions. Peacock, Paramount+, Max, and the Sony Pictures streaming presence all rely on original content production to attract and retain subscribers. The economics of streaming push toward producing whatever content works, which means adult content in many cases.

Corporate advocacy. Most of the major studios have corporate positions on political and cultural issues that BRI funds flag separately from their content.

The combined effect is that there is no plausible path by which a major studio could pass a strict BRI screen. The business is the content, and the content is the problem.

Smaller media companies

What about smaller, less problematic content producers? A few exist.

Angel Studios (private until its 2023 IPO, now trades under ANGL in some forms). Angel Studios produced The Chosen series and other faith-friendly content. It is a niche operation with tiny revenue compared to the majors, but it is intentionally Christian. Most BRI funds have looked at Angel Studios favorably.

Discovery Channel (now inside WBD). Before the merger, Discovery was arguably the cleanest of the major content networks because much of its programming was factual, nature-focused, and family-appropriate. The merger with Warner put Discovery inside a larger problematic parent, so it lost its standalone BRI friendliness.

Independent production companies that are privately held. These are common in Christian film, but they are not investable in public markets.

Scholastic Corporation (SCHL). Primarily an educational and book publishing company, not a Hollywood studio, but worth mentioning because it has had some recent controversies over book selections. BRI fund treatment has been mixed.

The biblical framing

Ephesians 5:11-12, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret." Paul's framing here is that Christians should not participate in dark works, and owning stock in a company whose business is producing such works is a participation question.

Philippians 4:8, already cited in several of these posts. "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable." This is the most applicable verse for content evaluation. The Hollywood content audit asks whether a studio's output fits these categories. Most major studio output does not.

Psalm 101:3, "I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless." King David's personal commitment about media consumption, applied to the portfolio question of financial participation in content creation.

The financial picture

All four major studio parents have been weak performers over the past several years. Comcast has held up better than the others because the cable and broadband business remains cash generative. Paramount has been a disaster. Sony has been mixed. Warner Bros Discovery has been a disappointment since the merger.

For BRI funds that excluded all four, the opportunity cost has been small and sometimes negative (meaning the exclusion helped performance). This is an unusual case where conviction and returns have lined up neatly.

Disney as the fifth comparison

We covered Disney in its own post, but it is worth noting here that Disney is the fifth major content producer in the analysis. Disney's exclusion from BRI funds is similar to the others but has some unique elements (the childrens' entertainment focus, the Parks business, the specific corporate advocacy history). Disney fits the same pattern but deserved the standalone treatment.

What this means for your portfolio

If you own a broad market index fund, you own Comcast, Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery, Disney, and either Sony or other media exposure. You are paying into the content libraries of every major Hollywood studio through your 401k.

If you use a BRI fund, you are largely not. Every major fund excludes CMCSA, PARA, WBD. Eventide and GuideStone sometimes hold Sony due to the diversified business. DIS is excluded across the board.

If you want to selectively exclude Hollywood without changing your entire portfolio, direct indexing platforms now offer the ability to drop specific sector names while keeping broad market exposure. This is the easiest path for someone who wants broad market beta but does not want Hollywood content exposure specifically.

The takeaway

Hollywood is effectively a no-fly zone for Biblically Responsible Investing. The major studios cannot pass a content audit. The smaller Christian-friendly content companies are mostly private or too small to matter. And the broad market indexes give you content exposure whether you want it or not.

For a Christian investor, the Hollywood exclusion is one of the cleanest BRI wins in the entire framework. The analysis is clear, the biblical support is strong, the financial cost has been low in recent years, and alternatives exist.

Psalm 101:3 keeps coming back. If you would not watch the content, you probably do not need to own the companies that made it. Simple principle, consistent application, and one of the easier BRI decisions you will make.