FCC approves Paramount-Skydance deal
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Skydance Media’s A$12 billion takeover of Paramount Global, just hours after a blistering South Park takedown of the Trump administration aired on Paramount-owned stations around the world.
The FCC commissioners voted 2-1 in favour of the sale of Paramount to Skydance, which is owned by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellisson and his family, one of the richest in the US.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who was appointed by President Trump, took aim at Paramount-owned CBS in his statement announcing the approval.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” Carr said.
“That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
Anna Gomez, the Democrat who voted against the deal, struck out in a separate statement.
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted,” she said.
“Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions.”
Larry Ellison
The approval comes in the same month that Paramount agreed to pay President Donald Trump A$24 million to settle a “frivolous” lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last October.
CBS claimed the suit was “completely without merit”, before its parent company Paramount agreed to the settlement.
Paramount claimed in a statement the settlement was “completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process”. Many commentators have questioned the timing of the payment.
The deal is expected to complete in the coming days, according to the LA Times. However, regulatory approval may not be the final hurdle for the deal.
Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren is calling for a bribery probe.
“Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration’s approval for its billion-dollar merger – this could be bribery in plain sight,” she said when the settlement was announced.
“Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so I’m calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws were broken.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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