By Gavin Boyle
The FCC has approved Paramount and Skydance’s $8 billion merger after executives at the companies committed to unbiased journalism and varied ideological perspectives.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national new media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. “It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
Paramount and Skydance also committed to discontinue any diversity, equity or inclusion initiatives at the company. Former NCBUniversal and Fox executive, Jeff Shell is set to become president of the combined company, while Netflix executive Cindy Holland will run the company’s streaming business. Skydance founder David Elllison revealed that the company will place a new emphasis on streaming following the merger to remain competitive in today’s media environment.
The approval of the merger comes after Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump, paying him $16 million after accusations that its show 60 MINUTES unfairly portrayed him and Kamala Harris – his democratic opponent – during last year’s election cycle. At the same time, CBS also recently announced it would discontinue Stephen Colbert’s LATE SHOW next year. Colbert has been a strong critic of Trump’s, and many have speculated the cancelation came after political pressure.
The FCC approved the merger in a 2-1 vote, with the dissenter being democrat Anna Gomez, who was appointed to the position by Joe Biden during his presidential term.
Related: How Paramount’s Skydance Media Merger Will Shake Up the Studio
The Paramount-Skydance merger was first announced in the summer of 2024 as Paramount faced significant financial struggles which threatened to shutter the company. Prior to the deal, Paramount had fielded multiple acquisition proposals from competitors across the entertainment industry before settling on Skydance.
After the deal was announced, however, multiple companies attempted to spoil the merger, leading to multiple lawsuits to be settled. The most significant was a last minute bid from investment group Project Rise Partners which Paramount was legally forced to consider despite it being an unserious attempt.
“Project Rise is seeking to hijack this Commission proceeding to buy time for litigation to proceed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, in an effort to force Paramount’s Board to consider Project Rise’s belated — and unserious — bid to acquire the company,” Skydance’s legal team said in a letter filed with the FCC. “But its objections here are as untimely as its bid, and it plainly lacks standing to object to the proposed transaction. In any event, Project Rise’s broadsides against the Skydance Consortium and the proposed transaction have no factual support or legal merit.”
Project Rise’s letter represents a bad-faith effort to sully the reputation of the Skydance Consortium and to delay approval of the Proposed Transaction,” Skydance’s letter added. “Having failed to submit a timely (or credible) bid to acquire Paramount, Project Rise now resorts to a misuse of the Commission’s process, asserting untimely and frivolous arguments without any demonstration of standing. The Commission should reject its baseless claims and proposed information requests out of hand.”
Now that the deal has been approved, Skydance and Paramount are expected to move quickly, combining into one company as soon as August or September. They will certainly represent a newfound powerhouse in entertainment as both companies look to turn a new page and reestablish their might in the industry.
Read Next: How The Paramount-Skydance Merger Affects You
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