US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger
A merger of $ 8 billion (5.9 billion pounds sterling) between Paramount Global and Skydance Media was approved by the Federal Commission (FCC) in the United States.
The merger between the independent cinema studio and one of the oldest and lightest companies in Hollywood was announced for the first time in 2024.
The approval came a few weeks after Paramount Global agreed to pay $ 16 million (13.5 million pounds sterling) to settle a legal dispute with US President Donald Trump for an interview she broadcast on the CBS subsidiary with former vice-president Kamala Harris.
FCC chief Brendan Carr, who was appointed by the president, announced the approval of the merger on Thursday, saying that he had praised Skydance ideas to bring “important changes” to CBS.
The FCC approval means that the merger could be finalized soon, but Paramount has not provided a completed completion date when the BBC requested by the BBC. Skydance did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The FCC has agreed to transfer broadcast licenses for 28 CBS television stations held and operated to the new owner.
“Americans no longer trust the national media inherited to report entirely, precisely and fairly,” said Carr. “It’s time to change.”
Carr said Skydance had made promises to the agency, including a “commitment to impartial journalism” where the merged company would install a mediator to assess the bias complaints.
Skydance also promised to end the efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion, which the Trump administration has targeted.
The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the agreement, with a commissioner, Anna Gomez, a democrat, dissident.
“After months of loose capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally obtained what he wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will finally finish the price of his shares,” she wrote.
Paramount Global retraces its origins more than a century at the Paramount Pictures Corporation Foundation in 1914. The studio made many successful films, including the Godfather, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible Series.
Paramount has the Paramount +streaming service, as well as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, Bet, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.
But the entertainment giant has struggled in the last decade.
Skydance belongs to David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded the giant of American technology Oracle.
FCC approval was necessary for the agreement to progress.
The agreement, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, was approved after a series of paramount measures, in particular by regulating a lawsuit by US President Donald Trump.
According to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the 60 -minute interview regulations were agreed – with the help of Mediator – so as not to affect the planned merger, which the FCC examined and, therefore, Trump technically had the power to stop.
Trump had alleged that the network had deceived an interview which was broadcast in his 60 -minute news program with his presidential electoral rival Kamala Harris, to “switch the scales in favor of the Democratic Party”.
Paramount said he would pay to settle the prosecution, but with the money allocated to the future Trump’s presidential library, not paid “directly or indirectly”.
This also occurs a few days after CBS, owned by Paramount, announced that it would end the late show with Stephen Colbert, who criticized Trump.
The network said this decision “is purely a financial decision against a difficult backdrop at the end of the evening [television]”And” is in no way linked to performance, content or other issues of the show “.
