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Skydance/Paramount Would Hurt Indie Content Producers: Fuse

Paramount Global’s self-preferencing behavior on the Pluto TV streaming platform shows how the proposed Skydance Media/Paramount deal would hurt independent programmers, Fuse Media told the FCC in comments posted Monday in docket 24-275. Fuse said its Shades of Black streaming…

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channel launch saw viewership on Pluto start dropping notably, beginning in late 2022, suggesting Pluto was trying to undermine the channel while promoting proprietary programming aimed at the same African American audience through Pluto's Black Cinema and Black Visionaries channels. Fuse said Skydance CEO David Ellison's plan to use Oracle AI capabilities -- his father, Larry Ellison, is a co-founder of Oracle -- would allow Paramount to further control content acquisition and distribution via Pluto. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the agency's incoming chair, has said a political news distortion complaint against Paramount's CBS could affect the Skydance/Paramount agreement (see 2411190051).