{"id":706002,"date":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/706002\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","slug":"european-commission-approves-paramount-warner-bros-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/706002\/","title":{"rendered":"European Commission Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe European Commission<\/a> approved<\/a> the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday, removing one of the few remaining obstacles to closing the $111 billion deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a condition of the approval, Paramount has already agreed<\/a> to cancel its film distribution partnership with Universal in Europe within the next 13 months.<\/p>\n

\n\tA federal judge in Oakland, Calif., on Monday temporarily halted the merger, pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction sought by 12 states including California and New York. The states argue that the deal will consolidate two of the top three basic cable programmers in the U.S. and two of the top film film distributors, leading to higher prices and less output.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe European Commission conducted a similar investigation of the impacts in the European Union, finding that the deal will not harm competition in TV or film production, as enough global and local competitors will remain. The commission\u2019s investigators did flag that the film distribution market would become overly concentrated due to Paramount\u2019s longstanding joint venture with Universal, which goes under the name United International Pictures.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount met with European regulators and agreed to exit the partnership, and not to enter into a similar arrangement for at least a decade.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese commitments\u00a0fully address the competition concerns\u00a0identified by the Commission by ensuring that the films of the merged entity will not be distributed jointly with those of Universal or Disney,\u201d the commission said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe United Kingdom is still considering whether to intervene in the deal. Paramount has already received approvals from some 20 other countries, including Australia and China, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to the state coalition, the Writers Guild of America has also sued to block the merger, arguing that it will limit pay and creative opportunities for film and TV writers.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said in a statement,\u00a0\u201cToday\u2019s approval from the\u00a0European Commission\u00a0marks another significant milestone in bringing\u00a0Paramount\u00a0and\u00a0Warner Bros. Discovery\u00a0together. We appreciate the Commission\u2019s constructive engagement and thorough analysis throughout its review.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tDelrahim added, \u201cNot only does this combination not pose any competitive harms, it actually enhances competition by creating a scaled media and entertainment company with the ability to truly challenge the tech platforms that have come to dominate the industry. By strengthening competition it will support increased investment in content, expand opportunities for creatives and deliver greater choice for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission approved the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday, removing one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,16776,59,183238,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-706002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-european-commission","tag-gb","tag-paramount-warner-bros","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}