{"id":589,"date":"2025-07-25T15:25:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=589"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:02:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:02:30","slug":"us-fcc-clears-8bn-skydance-paramount-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=589","title":{"rendered":"US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An $8bn (\u00a35.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood&#8217;s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yemi Alade - Tomorrow (Official Music Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G4u2yMsPdG8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The approval came just weeks after&nbsp;Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (\u00a313.5m) to settle a legal dispute&nbsp;with US President Donald Trump over an interview it broadcast on subsidiary CBS with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FCC head Brendan Carr, who was appointed by the president, announced the merger&#8217;s approval on Thursday, saying he welcomed Skydance&#8217;s ideas to make &#8220;significant changes&#8221; at CBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The approval means the merger could be finalised soon but Paramount did not provide an expected completion date when asked by the BBC. Skydance did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licences for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,&#8221; Mr Carr said. &#8220;It is time for a change.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Carr said Skydance had made promises to the agency, including a &#8220;commitment to unbiased journalism&#8221; where the merged company would install a ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skydance also promised to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, something the Trump administration has targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the deal, with one commissioner, Anna Gomez, a Democrat, dissenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914. The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paramount owns streaming service Paramount+, as well as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FCC&#8217;s approval was necessary for the deal to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deal, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, was approved after a series of moves by Paramount, including settling a lawsuit from Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the settlement over the 60 Minutes interview was agreed &#8211; with the help of mediator &#8211; so as to not affect the planned merger, which the FCC was reviewing and therefore Trump technically had the power to halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump had alleged the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to &#8220;tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump&#8217;s future presidential library, not paid to him &#8220;directly or indirectly&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also comes just days after CBS, owned by Paramount, announced it would end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who has been critical of Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The network said the move &#8220;is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]&#8221; and &#8220;is not related in any way to the show&#8217;s performance, content or other matters&#8221;. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5ypylq0vnko\">(BBC)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An $8bn (\u00a35.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood&#8217;s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024. The approval came just weeks after&nbsp;Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (\u00a313.5m) to settle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[449,55,152,748,450,378,749,454,57],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-cbs","tag-donald-trump","tag-federal-communications-commission","tag-hollywood","tag-kamala-harris","tag-paramount-global","tag-paramount-pictures","tag-skydance-media","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An $8bn (\u00a35.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Comm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=589\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger - 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