Paramount \u2060Skydance \u2060has agreed to \u200bpause its $110bn acquisition \u2060of \u200bWarner \u200cBros \u200cDiscovery until a \u200cruling on several states\u2019 challenge \u200cto the deal, or \u200buntil 1 June \u20602027, according \u200bto court \u200bpapers \u200bfiled \u200bon Friday.<\/p>\n
A group of 12 US states headed by California<\/a> obtained a temporary restraining order this week that blocked the merger from closing for 28 days, pending the outcome of a motion for a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n The states allege that the deal should be blocked because it will reduce competition in the cable and theatrical markets.<\/p>\n A Warner-Paramount merger would bring together two of the five last legacy studios in Hollywood, as well as a host of TV networks, titles filling streaming libraries and news operations. That would include Warner\u2019s HBO Max and CNN coming under the same roof of Paramount-owned CBS, movies including Top Gun and the Paramount+ streaming service.<\/p>\n The \u2060delay could cost Paramount Skydance, controlled by the Ellison family, about $7m a \u200cday in fees \u200cit agreed to pay Warner Bros<\/a> \u200cshareholders if the merger does not close by 30 September. Similar merger \u200bchallenges have taken an \u200baverage \u200cof eight \u200bmonths for \u200ba judge to rule on, a Reuters review of recent cases found.<\/p>\n Journalists at CBS News and CNN have expressed concerns<\/a> about the possibility of the networks being merged and the likely resulting job losses. Press freedom groups have also voiced fears over political influence around the deal.<\/p>\n David Ellison and his father, Larry, a longtime Trump associate, have reoriented the CBS network<\/a> in an editorial direction more favorable to the president, especially under the leadership of CBS News\u2019s embattled editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.<\/p>\n However, David Ellison pledged in March<\/a> that CNN\u2019s editorial independence would be protected amid speculation that he could put Bari Weiss in charge of the cable network.<\/p>\n At the time the deal was approved by the Trump administration in June<\/a>, Elizabeth Warren, the progressive Democratic senator, said in a social media post<\/a> that the development was \u201cterrible news for every American who doesn\u2019t want Trump-aligned billionaires to control what they watch and how much they pay\u201d, adding that the merger \u201chas reeked of corruption and influence-peddling\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement, Paramount said: \u201cToday\u2019s agreement is a significant win because the result is exactly what we have sought from the outset: a direct path to a trial based on the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n It added: \u201cThis is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers and good for creators \u2013 a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached \u2026 We look forward to proving our case at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount \u2060Skydance \u2060has agreed to \u200bpause its $110bn acquisition \u2060of \u200bWarner \u200cBros \u200cDiscovery until a \u200cruling on several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-822056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}