Paramount settles with US states in step towards merger with Warner Bros

Paramount Skydance has emerged victorious in its pursuit of a $110bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery after it settled lawsuits with California and 11 other states and a Hollywood writers union that sued to block the deal, paving the way for one of the largest media mergers in history.

The settlement, reported on Monday, will include independent editorial boards to oversee CNN and CBS amid concerns that political pressure could sway coverage. The lawsuits were brought by a coalition of 12 state attorneys general .

But free speech advocates are not convinced that will be helpful.

“An independent editorial board for CNN and CBS is a weak half-measure. The fish rots from the head, and this particular fish is headed by a compromised oligarch with a history of throwing journalists under the bus to advance his business interests,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

“The editorial board actually poses its own First Amendment problems when created pursuant to a settlement with the government. It’s unclear how the attorneys general can constitutionally hold Paramount accountable if the board doesn’t do its job without themselves interfering in content – the exact problem they’re supposedly trying to solve.”

Paramount Skydance is owned by tech tycoon Larry Ellison, a close ally of US President Donald Trump. The company is run by Ellison’s son, David, raising concerns the relationship could sway coverage of Trump and his policies. The settlements are a major win for David.

The settlement also includes a $30m penalty if the media giant fails to produce 30 movies per year as it had promised, according to Reuters news agency.

It caps months of regulatory and legal wrangling over a deal that would dramatically concentrate power across Hollywood’s film, TV, streaming and news businesses.