LightShed companion Wealthy Greenfield analyzes the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros deal on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Three Democratic senators have urged the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) to place the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger on pause over issues about overseas traders controlling what can be one of many largest media firms in the US.
In a joint letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Sens. Cory Booker, D- N.J., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., demanded he “should foreclose any try by Paramount to shut this transaction” earlier than an satisfactory evaluate of the concerned overseas traders is accomplished.
The lawmakers stated the FCC should conduct this evaluate to guage doable “nationwide safety threats posed by overseas authorities funding” within the $110 billion entity. If permitted, the merger would deliver CNN and CBS Information below one company proprietor, additional consolidating the information media panorama.
Paramount, led by CEO David Ellison, acknowledged in an April monetary disclosure cited by the senators that overseas possession within the new company will rise to “roughly 49.5 p.c.” In that doc, Paramount additionally stated that each one voting rights shall be “managed by the Ellison household by U.S. entities.”
WARNER BROS DISCOVERY SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE DEAL
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks on the thirty eighth Annual Michigan Democratic Ladies’s Caucus Legacy Luncheon on April 18, 2026, in Detroit, Michigan. (Invoice Pugliano/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
The doc revealed that Saudi Arabia’s public funding fund and numerous entities primarily based within the United Arab Emirates and Qatar can be fairness holders.
Paramount advised the FCC in April that this association wouldn’t current “any nationwide safety, regulation enforcement, or overseas or commerce coverage issues.”
The senators need a extra rigorous test of what this degree of overseas possession would imply, telling Carr of their letter that he mustn’t take the Ellison household’s statements “at face worth.”
They argued that the FCC ought to reject Paramount’s petition for preemptive approval. Below Part 310 of the 1934 Communications Act, overseas people, firms and governments are usually prohibited from proudly owning greater than 25% of a U.S.-based agency that has an FCC-issued broadcast license.
The Paramount Studios register Los Angeles, California, on April 23, 2026. (Noah Suave / Getty Photos)
Booker, Schiff and Warren gave Carr a July 1 deadline to inform Paramount that the deal can’t shut till the overseas funding evaluate is accomplished.
The FCC’s pending approval is the most important regulatory hurdle in the way in which of the merger. The Division of Justice signaled final week it might not problem Paramount’s bid to amass Warner Bros.
The DOJ’s antitrust division concluded after an eight-month evaluate that “the transaction is just not more likely to lead to hurt to competitors or American customers” with regard to on-demand streaming, linear tv and studio improvement, and the manufacturing and distribution of movies.
Warren criticized this choice by the DOJ and urged state attorneys common to proceed preventing the transaction. California Legal professional Normal Rob Bonta was already main a coalition of states in making ready a lawsuit to dam Paramount from including Warner Bros. to its rising portfolio.
Federal Communications Fee Chairman Brendan Carr speaks onstage throughout the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit on the Sheraton New York Occasions Sq. in New York Metropolis on Sept. 22, 2025. (John Lamparski/Getty Photos for Concordia Annual Summit / Getty Photos)
Greater than 5,000 filmmakers and actors working in Hollywood signed an open letter in April furiously demanding that the merger be stopped. They argued that it might stifle competitors and cut back job alternatives.
“Our business is already below extreme pressure, largely because of prior waves of consolidation. We’ve witnessed a steep decline within the variety of movies produced and launched,” in keeping with the petition. “We’re deeply involved by indications of help for this merger that prioritize the pursuits of a small group of highly effective stakeholders over the broader public good.”
