Markey, Lujan Urge Trusty to Back Full FCC Vote on Skydance/Paramount
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., are urging Republican FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to “insist that the FCC conduct” its review of Skydance’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global “with the utmost transparency, including holding a full Commission vote on any order to approve the merger.” Some observers believe Paramount recently agreed to a $16 million settlement of President Donald Trump's lawsuit against CBS, which challenged its editing of a 60 Minutes interview last October with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, to ease the path to FCC approval of the deal. Paramount has refuted those claims (see 2507020053).
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The Skydance/Paramount deal “is unique in the FCC's storied history, with the sitting President actively litigating against a news organization whose parent is seeking FCC approval of a major media merger,” Markey and Lujan said Thursday in a letter to Trusty. “In that baseless lawsuit, Trump falsely alleged that CBS had violated state consumer protection laws through its editorial decisions around” the Harris interview. “Although the transcript of the interview indisputably showed that Trump’s claims were a flagrant attempt” to intimidate the media, Paramount agreed to settle, the senators said. “This settlement casts a shadow over the proposed Paramount-Skydance merger and raises serious questions about the editorial independence of one of the nation’s largest media organizations. The Commission cannot turn a blind eye to this context.”
Markey and Lujan noted that they also asked FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in May to “hold a vote on the merger by the full Commission, instead of unilaterally directing the Media Bureau to approve it on its delegated authority.” They encouraged Trusty to join Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez in backing a full FCC vote, saying the commission “owes the public a transparent, deliberative process on such a high-profile and controversial issue.” Trusty’s office didn't comment.