{"id":319869,"date":"2026-08-12T22:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319869\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:30:21","slug":"paramount-considers-moving-cbs-news-out-of-nyc-in-battle-with-ags-rob-bonta-letitia-james-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/319869\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount considers moving CBS News out of NYC in battle with AGs Rob Bonta, Letitia James: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paramount is considering the option of moving CBS News out of the Big Apple as his legal battle with New York and California\u2019s attorneys general<\/a> is heating up, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

One point of leverage for Paramount is potentially moving its news operations out of New York City as California AG Rob Bonta leads a coalition of 12 lefty states in an effort to block Paramount\u2019s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, people close to Paramount told The Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

While CEO David Ellison would prefer not to relocate CBS News, there have been broad discussions internally about a potential move to another city, said a source with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison speaks during the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 9. (AFP or licensors) AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pulling CBS News from the city would mark a seismic change to the media landscape \u2014 and the idea comes as Paramount\u2019s board has approved a plan to move the Hollywood studio out of California if Bonta doesn\u2019t agree to settlement talks.<\/p>\n

CBS News has about 1,200 employees worldwide, with a chunk of them in New York City, according to a network spokesperson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real negotiation is how much he will move out of California and New York of his current operations. If it involves a lot of production, that\u2019s a lot of jobs,\u201d a source told The Post. <\/p>\n

Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, is pictured during an interview in San Francisco on Feb. 17. (Bloomberg) Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The person, a media executive with knowledge of Paramount\u2019s intentions, said Ellison could move all his news operations to Atlanta, where CNN is headquartered, in anticipation of eventually winning the legal row with the state AGs \u2014 even if the case reaches the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Another source close to the company described the possible moves as \u201ccontingency plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS News\u2019 broadcast center could fetch the billionaire Ellison family a \u201ccouple of billion dollars,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n

Paramount insiders believe Bonta wants a spin-off of CNN, a Warner Bros. asset, before any deal is pushed through \u2013 though Ellison isn\u2019t willing to do that as of now.<\/p>\n

But people inside Paramount are still optimistic that the company will be able to reach a settlement with Bonta, whom Ellison wants to come to the table by Oct. 1. <\/p>\n

Under the terms of its deal with WBD, from that date onward, Paramount would have to cough up a painful $7 million per day until the merger is completed.<\/p>\n

Paramount had been hoping for a speedy court battle starting in November, but a federal judge last week set a March 2027 trial date \u2013 a painful setback for Ellison that saw him publish a New York Times op-ed<\/a> pledging to be a \u201ctrusted steward\u201d of CNN.<\/p>\n

People walk by the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan. (Getty Images North America) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ellison is seeking leverage in his battle with Bonta and New York AG Letitia James, though it\u2019s unclear how much of his production operations he is prepared to move out of California or New York.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

No formal talks are now taking place, and the two sides remain at odds over possible concessions, people close to the matter told The Post. <\/p>\n

Paramount\u2019s optimism comes as pressure has been mounting within the Democratic Party to keep the studio owner happy and prevent any backlash from an exodus of Hollywood jobs, sources said.<\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has reportedly raised concerns behind closed doors<\/a> about Bonta\u2019s lawsuit, warning that if the media merger is blocked, it could hurt Los Angeles jobs.<\/p>\n

The massive media merger<\/a> would combine HBO Max, Paramount+, HBO, CBS, CNN and thousands of movie titles under one company led by Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire and close Trump ally Larry Ellison.<\/p>\n

Bonta has argued the deal would lead to higher prices, lower quality and less content, saying it would control nearly one-third of the US theatrical film distribution market and almost one-third of the nation\u2019s basic cable programming.<\/p>\n

Paramount has repeatedly defended the merger, noting that it has been greenlit by the US Department of Justice, as well as regulators in the EU, UK, Australia and China.<\/p>\n

Paramount did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount is considering the option of moving CBS News out of the Big Apple as his legal battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,2998,28045,68,398,1208,9,56,63,65,64,3005,69540],"class_list":["post-319869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-business","tag-cbs-news","tag-david-ellison","tag-exclusive","tag-letitia-james","tag-media","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-paramount","tag-rob-bonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}