Reports emerged on Monday morning that David Ellison’s Paramount has settled its case with the 12 US state attorneys general, a move that would end the scheduled antitrust trial and appear to pave the way for Paramount’s $111bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
Screen was unable to get confirmation from Paramount or the office of California AG Rob Bonta, who has been the figurehead in a lawsuit that argued any merger of the studios would stifle competition in the cable TV and theatrical sectors.
As reports said confirmation from the parties was expected late on Monday, observers were preparing to scrutinise it for detail around concessions. There was talk that Bonta and the attorneys general had sought a structural remedy such as an undertaking by Ellison to divest of certain assets like cable channels. In recent weeks the sense in Hollywood was that this would be an unlikely outcome.
The media mogul has indicated that he is unwilling to part ways with CNN despite concerns that a post-merger Paramount would result in a dominant news offering, given that Paramount already owns CBS News, and the need to maintain journalistic independence at the news channel.
Late last week when it emerged that Paramount and Bonta had been engaging in settlement talks there was talk around Hollywood that Ellison had offered to run Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros Pictures as separate entities. for an initial period He has also pledged that a combined company would release 30 features a year with minimum 45-day theatrical exclusivity. However these are behavioural remedies that are harder to monitor and enforce and it was unclear if Bonta would accept these.
Ellison has been keen to get the transaction closed before October 1, when a ticking fee of approximately $7m a day and $650 a quarter kicks in, payable by Paramount to WBD shareholders.
Writers Guild Of America has also sued Paramount over the proposed merger and its case and that of the state AGs was due to be heard in a trial scheduled for March 2, 2027.
More to follow…
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