\n Paramount is in advanced talks with state attorneys general to resolve the antitrust lawsuit blocking its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN\u2019s parent company.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the talks are creating divisions among some of the Democratic states that brought the lawsuit two months ago, sources tell CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has been leading the 12-state coalition, has been pressing to strike a settlement deal with Paramount in recent days.\n <\/p>\n
\n However, some of the states are not yet on board. New York Attorney General Letitia James has been resisting the deal terms and seeking additional protections for workers, according to a person familiar with the matter.\n <\/p>\n
\n Connecticut and at least two other states also have reservations about the settlement and are not currently on board. The holdouts are seeking additional remedies from Paramount.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Connecticut attorney general William Tong is \u201cfighting to preserve the independence of CNN and CBS News,\u201d another person familiar with the negotiations said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are confidential and subject to change.\n <\/p>\n
\n If a settlement deal is not reached, the antitrust case will go to trial in California next March \u2014 an extended delay that could potentially jeopardize the deal altogether.\n <\/p>\n
\n Political calculations loom large: James, Bonta, Tong and some of the other state AGs are up for reelection this November.\n <\/p>\n
\n James, for one, represents thousands of New Yorkers who work at Paramount and Warner.\n <\/p>\n
\n The person familiar with the matter said James\u2019 office has been in touch with at least half a dozen impacted unions during the settlement talks.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bonta has been under intense pressure, including from some usual allies, over Paramount\u2019s reported threats to leave California. L.A. mayor Karen Bass \u2014 who is locked in a tough reelection campaign \u2014 spoke out last week and said \u201cI\u2019m going to fight like hell\u201d to keep film and TV production in the city.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Wall Street Journal first reported the advanced settlement talks, and Status first reported on New York and Connecticut\u2019s reservations. In response, Bonta\u2019s office said it would not \u201cconfirm or deny whether settlement talks are occurring or their alleged substance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Potential concessions from Paramount could include independent content monitoring of CNN and commitments on theatrical releases, Reuters reported, along with keeping the two film studios\u2019 operations separate for a period of time, according to the Journal.\n <\/p>\n
\n Reports of a looming settlement have raised concern among opponents of the merger, which would create a new Hollywood colossus, uniting Paramount and Warner\u2019s movie studios, dozens of television channels and the CBS News and CNN news operations.\n <\/p>\n
\n Some opponents have questioned the motives of Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison, the Oracle executive chairman. Larry is a longtime ally of President Trump and David has cultivated close ties to the Trump White House while trying to turn his relatively small production company into a global media giant.\n <\/p>\n
\n Trump\u2019s Justice Department reviewed the merger and allowed it to proceed without any concessions in June.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe, respectfully, didn\u2019t think the United States DOJ did an adequate review and we thought we needed to step into that breach,\u201d Bonta said Thursday at The Atlantic Festival.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bonta said he would insist on \u201cstructural remedies,\u201d such as divestitures of cable channels, in any settlement negotiations.\n <\/p>\n
\n News reports about the current talks led some merger opponents to accuse him of caving to Paramount.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Block the Merger Coalition, an alliance of Hollywood unions and advocacy groups, announced protests Sunday in L.A. outside Bonta\u2019s office; Monday in New York outside James\u2019 office; and Tuesday in L.A. at the Writers Guild of America West\u2019s headquarters.\n <\/p>\n
\n Calling the rumored deal \u201can insult to everyone who has stood up against this harmful transaction,\u201d the coalition urged the attorneys general to block the merger outright.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAn agreement based only on unenforceable concessions is a win only for David Ellison,\u201d the coalition said. \u201cIt is an L for everyone else.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount is in advanced talks with state attorneys general to resolve the antitrust lawsuit blocking its acquisition of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75],"class_list":["post-903618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}