A US federal judge has approved a settlement allowing media giant Paramount to complete its $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros., despite long-standing fears about media consolidation. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin of the US District Court described the deal as a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms.”
The approval follows a lawsuit by a coalition of 12 states, led by California, which argued that combining Paramount and Warner Bros. would stifle competition. They estimated that nearly one-third of all theatrical releases and basic cable programming would be consolidated. However, the states abandoned their lawsuit on September 21 in favour of a settlement.
The five-year agreement requires Paramount to adhere to theatrical release quotas, committing to 30 films per year in the US. It also mandates that the combined company keep negotiations with cable providers for Warner-owned channels separate from those for Paramount-owned channels. Additionally, a five-member panel will be created to safeguard the editorial independence of CNN and CBS.
Sceptics point out that the merger places a large swath of US media under the control of David Ellison, who leads Paramount. Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison—a strong backer of pro-Israel causes with close ties to the administration of President Donald Trump—acquired Paramount last year through his company Skydance. That deal brought CBS under his control, and the abrupt cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which had been critical of Trump, raised questions. Ellison later installed Bari Weiss, a pro-Israel media figure, as head of CBS News, further fuelling concerns about diminished journalistic independence.
Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, condemned the settlement. “Allowing one Trump-aligned, foreign-owned conglomerate to dominate American news and entertainment is a disastrous outcome,” she said. California Governor Gavin Newsom had urged the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop the multi-state lawsuit and pursue a settlement instead. Paramount emerged victorious from a bidding war with Netflix in February to win control of Warner Bros.’ holdings, including Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN, and HBO Max. The Trump administration approved the deal without alterations in June.
Source: www.aljazeera.com